Your Brand Is Not My Friend

Presented by Alan Wolk

Brands are no longer about selling

They’re about “storytelling”

and “engagement”

and “curation”

They want to be our friend

Your Brand Is Not My FriendBut

A Brief History: How We Got Here

Ads used to deliver news

Then they became all about branding and image

The Real Digital Revolution

Then along came

Google changed everything

Now we can fact check ad claims

And see what other consumers think

This has resulted in a complete change in consumer behavior

PurchaseAd

GoogleAd Purchase

Before

Now

GoogleAd Purchase

That’s huge

Changes how we buy a car

Before: limited resources

Now: Full range of resources

It’s all about getting them to Google, not the showroom

Once this happened, print and TV couldn’t close the sale anymore

The “magic advertising words” weren’t working

They could offer compelling facts or create an image

(Provided there was one)

But they couldn’t close the sale.So marketers looked at online...

Microsites weren’t working: why would I go to one?

Neither were banners

In 1996, we “surfed” the web, and banners took you someplace just as interesting as where you were

But now that we go online for a reason, we’re not likely to stop what we’re doing to “interact” with an ad

New ways to “engage” customers were needed

Social Media seemed like the next big thing

Everyone was becoming “friends” online

Why not brands?

Your Brand Is Not My Friend™

Social networks are today’s malt shops

It’s where we go to hang out with our friends

We don’t want to be interrupted by salespeople

But there are some brands people want to hear from

They’re called “Prom King Brands”

There are the usual suspects

Sports teams

TV shows, movies and music acts

99% of brands are not “Prom Kings”

But they can still play in social media

They just have to do it differently

Traditional media is about what the brand wants to say

Traditional media is about what the brand wants to say

Social media is about what consumers want to hear

Social media always involves an exchange

Prom King Brands provide “coolness” (aka “social currency” or “whuffie”)

But if you’re not a prom king brand, you can provide one of four things:

• Entertainment (Something I’d want to see even if a brand wasn’t sponsoring it)

• Information (Exclusive information I feel good about knowing)

• Utility (Something that makes my life easier)

• Incentive (Literally a coupon, a discount or something else of monetary value)

Here’s How Those Exchanges Work:

Entertainment

• Entertainment can be:

• Anything featuring celebrities or entertainment properties you have a deal with

• Third party content that has a tie-in to your overall marketing strategy

• (That means if you’re a serious insurance company, a comedy video is a no-go)

• Your own TV commercials (if they’re something people would enjoy watching)

• Beware: it’s tough for agencies and brand managers to judge this

What Would Maxwell House Do? (WWMHD)

• Maxwell House has an endorsement deal with comedian Nancy Nevins who has a well-known routine about how crabby she is before her first cup of coffee.

• A 3-minute live clip is posted to the Maxwell House Facebook page. The clip also appears on their YouTube page, their blog, their website, and is promoted via their Twitter stream

Entertainment: WWMHD

Watch Nancy Nevins do her “Coffeeless Morning” routing live at The Comedy Shack in Atlanta

Information

• Information can be:

• Facts or useful information (e.g. reviews) that your audience would be interested in

• You can utilize third-party vendors for this

• The information needs to tie in to your overall marketing strategy

• Access to “behind-the-scenes” footage, exclusive clips, or advance notice from celebrity endorsers or properties you have a sponsorship deal with

• News related to your product or category

• Maxwell House hires celebrity chef Umberto Toscano to create a series of recipes using Maxwell House coffee. The deal gives them access to behind-the-scenes footage from Toscano’s widely viewed show and that footage is posted exclusively on the Maxwell House Facebook page.

Information: WWMHD

Watch exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of Viva La Cucina! with Umberto Tuscano

Utility

• Utility can be:

• Anything that makes the consumer’s life easier: recipes, how-to videos, a way to buy things off a social site

• Anything from a PDF to a website to a widget to an app

• Maxwell House hires celebrity chef Umberto Toscano to create a series of recipes using Maxwell House coffee.

• The recipes are posted on the Maxwell House website, on their blog, on a special YouTube channel and on Facebook and MySpace. There’s even an iPhone app.

• The Maxwell House twitter account lets people know when a new video has come out and users can comment on the videos everywhere using Facebook connect.

Utility: WWMHD

Incentive

• An incentive can be:

• Coupons or discount codes

• Group discounts

• Contests and promotions with financial incentives

• Be careful not to make it seem like you’re bribing people to join you

• That seems as desperate coming from a brand as it does from a person

• Maxwell House has a Twitter account and runs a contest through Twitter, giving a month’s supply of coffee to the 25th person to tweet the date and place Maxwell House was first introduced.

Incentive: WWMHD

MAXWELLHOUSE: New Contest: 25th person to tweet date & place MH was born wins month’s worth of coffee #mhcontest

BOND006: RT MaxwellHouse: New Contest: 25th person to tweet date & place MH was born wins month’s worth of coffee #mhcontest

IMPOSSIBILITY: @MaxwellHouse: Hoboken NJ in 1896?

A Few Basic Rules of the Road:

Step 1: Identify what your customers needs are

Step 2: Figure out how to solve those needs

Step 3: Approach people as a brand that is selling something to them, not a buddy who is sharing something with them: they know the difference.

Step 4: Use social media for a valid business reason, not just because everyone else is.

Comcast Cares is a great customer service story

Real identity

Real identity

Step 5: Don’t push it

(Give them the “candy” and get out of the way. No “capturing names” or other

annoying tactics)

No hard sell or upsell.

Step 6: Make everything as easy to find and as easy to share as possible

Case Studies

Quick Case Study #1: The Mad Men Get It

Mad Men has been one of the most buzzed about shows on television

Social media program is anchored by the AMC web site

Blog links out to other social content (iPhone)

Active message boards - some threads have hundreds of comments

Pump content

Wonder where all those MadMen icons came from?

AMC’s Mad Men Yourself game proved a smash hit

Over 500,000 people have downloaded the avatars to share on their social networks

Artwork by Dyna Moe

Mad Men’s Facebook page has over 275,00 members

The Facebook page actively promotes other platforms

Gamesand

quizzes

Clips from this

season

Mad Men has an active Twitter account that links to AMC’s site and articles about the cast and crew

But the real activity on Twitter comes from fans

Last year, a group of random fans began tweeting as Mad Men characters

This is the kind of love entertainment properties can own. But they need to work with fans, not against them.

Quick Case Study #2: Red Bull: All About Sports

Red Bull has a dynamic Facebook presence

Almost 3 million fans

Lots of content

Lots of fan interaction

Lots of relevant, unique content

Highlights of events

Polls

Free music

Links to athletes

WebTV on Facebook

TwitterFeed of athletes

Photos from athletes and from fans

Photos from brand

Over 2,500 fan photos

Fans can RSVP to upcoming events on Facebook

Links to upcoming events

View guest list

Red Bull maintains consistency on MySpace

Similar content re: athletes

They are consistent on Twitter

Retweets from their French account

Tweets from their athletes

They are consistent on YouTube

Videos about Red Bull athletes

And on their web site

Red BullTV

clips

Videosavailabl

eheretoo

And on their web site

Facbooklink

More Videos

Red Bull gives fans a lot of exclusive content and is consistent throughout.

Quick Case Study #3: Sarah Palin: You Betcha!

Palin has a very popular Facebook page with very engaged fans

6K+ comments in less than a day

1.5 million followers

8,000+ likes and 1,000+ comment in 3 hours!

Her fans have formed a strong community

Her followers leave lengthy comments

They defend her from critics

She shares relevant links with her fan base

Fans are finding their way to the sub-pages

Her Twitter page is frequently updated, with links that are relevant to her audience

She is an almost non-stop topic of discussion on Twitter

Why is Sarah Palin a social media phenomenon?

• Consistent message

• Strong POV

• Accessible personality: her fans view her as a friend, not a politician

• Palin communicates exclusively via social media: she does not maintain a website or a blog of any sort.

Quick Case Study #4: Think Local: Pump Energy Foods, NYC

The Pump is a small chain of health-conscious take-out restaurants based in Manhattan

The Pump pushes its social media links from its web site

Their blog has a distinct POV & also shows where to find them on other social media sites

Pump uses their Facebook page for promotions

Free samples

More free samples

Contest

Charity promotion

They talk to fans on Twitter & promote giveaways

Free samples

Trivia contest

They use YouTube so fans can see news about them

Serena Williams

gets lunch at Pump

Pump’s promotions help local fans develop a relationship with the store and use social media to spread the word to their friends

Quick Case Study #5: Moderated Conversation: Nexium

Nexium has moderated conversation on Facebook

Nexium isn’t always consistent with posting, and participation is low, but it’s a start

With close to 3,000 fans, the brands is making some headway with consumers.

Five quick case studies, five unique plans. Try something similar, and you’ll start to see results

Soon enough, they’ll start to like you

They may not always talk to you, but they will talk about you

Which is exactly what you want:

To be part of the conversation

But what then?

How do I know if “being part of the conversation” is worth it?

Determining Social Media ROI

• Rule #1: There are no rules.

• You can use social media to do a world of things

• Sell things

• Build awareness

• Increase loyalty

• Customer service

• Reputation management

• Become a thought leader

Step #1: What Are Your Goals?

• Once you know what your goal is, you’ll be able to figure out what success looks like.

• You should set short term goals and re-evaluate every three months or so.

• Digital media changes so rapidly, it’s important to stay on top of things by closely monitoring the landscape

• One thing to consider is were your goals realistic? Did you set the bar too high or too low?

Don’t be afraid of squishy metrics: sometimes having people think well of you is enough

Be leery of people who tell you they can measure sentiment: it’s a hard thing to measure unless you do a lot of it by hand

Social media is not “free”

There are costs involved: time costs money.And the more successful you are, the more time you will need to invest.

Pick the platform or platform that make sense both in terms of your audience and your bandwidth

(Having a Facebook page that gets updated once every three months is a lot worse than not having one at all.)

ExperimentTake ChancesHave Fun

Some Quick Predictions:

The Facebook privacy issue goes away quickly

everyoneOne word. Big problems.

Twitter relies on extroverts

How long till we run out of extroverts?

Location Based Services can give me a reason to share where I am and what I’m doing.

The Next Big Question: How much do I want marketers to be able to anticipate my needs?

“Web 3.0”

“Web 3.0”

“Web 3.0”

“Web 3.0”

“Web 3.0”

“Web 3.0”

“Web 3.0” “Web

3.0”

“Web 3.0”

“Web 3.0”

“Web 3.0”

“Web 3.0”

“Web 3.0”

Creepy or Useful?

Time will tell

thank you san francisco

Questions?

Alan Wolk

Consulting: ToadStoolConsulting.comEmail: alan.wolk@mac.com

Blog: toadstoolblog.comTwitter: @awolkHive Awards: hiveawards.com

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