Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

With the South by Southwest® Conference (SXSW) underway (and the Interactive portion already complete), a few Organics have been following the happenings on the web. Here are a few that have made an impression:

Agencies
Nora Cocan shares, "Rethink has an omnipresent but not intrusive expandable tab at the top with live coverage by their gang." Yet she's still waiting for something worthwhile to read.

Craig Ritchie is "really liking this simple homepage for Made By Many to introduce you to their people -- certainly the best way to sell any modern agency."

Friends and Colleagues on Twitter
Dan Sicko is following @jm3 as well as @takeitez of @140proofads

SXSW Speakers
We were also listening to the presenters. Host of Wine Library TV, @garyvee, was a keynote.

Brands
And of course there's the return of PepsiCo. They have 12 employees down in Austin dedicated to the social portal they call PepsiCo Zeitgeist.

Who are you tracking?


Thanks to Nora Cocan, Craig Ritchie and Dan Sicko for sharing their sources.
Sarah Jo Sautter

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dollobserver

Meet Tweetin' Timmy. He's Chatty Kathy's oddball cousin. Kathy spends hours on the phone talking to her friends about the best way to shed the weight she's gained attending too many dinner parties. Timmy, on the other hand, simply gives you hourly Twitter updates about his mood and wants you all to know that he just hates the buildup on the lid of his bottle of dish soap. After all, he spent the day doing chores and recovering from the party you took him to last night where he didn't look any of your friends in the eye.

It has been said a million times before, so it only deserves one sentence: As digital communication becomes pervasive, people are cultivating their personalities online. What's worth asking, though, is what good is that when your online and IRL (that's "in real life" for the noobs) selves are total opposites?

Most of us who use Twitter have a person or three in our list of followers who loves to share the most mundane and obscure details of life. It's easy to draw assumptions about their personalities, but sometimes the peeps don't sync up with their Tweets. People who seem cold in daily interactions might surprise you by sharing it all on the Internet.

This new personality, Tweetin' Timmy, reflects the fact that social media are creating the newly attention-hungry in addition to serving the gossip-prone. A new generation of the digitally sociable are more comfortable online than IRL.

As we spend more time in the digital dimension, our online personas become more valid -- if you're a person who spends a lot of time on the internet, there's no discounting how you act on the internet. The catch-22 of this is that now, online personas can be less of a glimpse into who you might meet on that job interview or first date.

Perhaps a new part of personality has emerged. Is how well digital- and carbon-based activities match up an important new criterion for how people will be judged?

Nate Rogers

Life Beyond Facebook
Carnegie-Mellon professor and game developer, Jesse Schell, offers an extremely insightful and thoughtful perspective on how Facebook and "reality-based" social platforms are going to affect our lives as consumers and marketers.

His conclusion, everything we do will be part of a game wherein we earn points toward rewards (social, virtual and real). Brush your teeth? +10 points! Walk to work? +100! Someone link syncs with your Tattoogle AdSense tattoo? +500!

He believes "...It's possible that they'll inspire us to be better people -- if the game systems are designed right."

Do you find yourself --- consciously or unconsciously -- altering your behavior based on virtual rewards?

Thanks to James Vreeland for the link.

Sam Cannon

Source: Ohio State University


A piece in the March issue of Wired took on the issue of 'texting-while-driving', turning the issue on its head by suggesting that instead of banning texting, we should simply drive less.

Now, we're talking. I'm of the opinion that the Internet has done less to change the world than we give it credit for (See "The Internet: More or Less Revolutionary than a TV Dinner" here). To reach revolutionary status, the Web and/or mobile must fundamentally change the way we live. Will the basic inability to text our thumbs off push commute times down? If it does, then we're really seeing where the mobile/web era is taking our lives.

Do We Love Commuting?
Is it really possible? Americans and their cultural hangers-on love to drive. Our culture (and tax code) is heavily stacked toward home ownership. Big houses and plots of land are considered birth rights of the middle class here. And to meet that, we would have to keep building outward from the urban cores for decades to come.

Won't those 30-, 45-, 6-, 90-minute commutes keep things under control? Not hardly. Commuting times have soared consistently since the 1950s and show no signs of stopping soon. And considering even the most entry level cars in 2010 are mobile palaces of HVAC, auto everything, entertainment and comfort -- commuting has become more of a positive respite from the outside world than a negative waste of time.

But people in 2010 also love to text. There's no question. And texting while driving is ridiculously dangerous. Most people I know have a "eureka" story with the phenomenon...a time when they were so lost in texting they nearly killed themselves in traffic, leading to a personal ban on such behavior in the car. Yet at stop lights, they text. In bumper-to-bumper, they text. And if it's really, really important...they text no matter what (despite nearly dying previously -- now that's love).

"I Don't Want a License, Dad"?
Perhaps it won't be my generation that starts seeing driving as a net negative to life...we're probably already too far in the "loving to drive" corner to give it up. But for the text crazy teens coming up now, I'd bet many would actually choose texting over driving if put to the choice. So perhaps after college, they will be drawn toward a lifestyle with less miles on the road all so they can keep avoiding actual conversation via awkward tiny keyboards.

Hard to tell. Maybe texting will simply vanish in the near future, replaced by something new. But love makes people nuts, and the text craze really doesn't make much "logical" sense to begin with. One thing is for sure, texting and driving cannot coexist happily. And that will lead to some kind of cultural shift.

Mike Hudson

image adapted from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackol/

There's long been a war in the cola arena between Coca-Cola and Pepsi and the battle to win the heartiest social fan base will be the next interesting milestone to unfold between the two.

A UK blog reported that Coke is devoting more to their social marketing efforts this year. Specifically it's focusing on community platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. And Pepsi said no to Super Bowl ads this year in favor of a $20 million social media budget.

Pepsi's money is going towards a grassroots program they're calling Pepsi Refresh. It not only hopes to build a community online, the company plans to sponsor thousands of local efforts. Pepsi has six professional ambassadors that have already accomplished something significant in their category (health, arts & culture, food & shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, education). They write posts for the site to inspire readers to submit ideas and discuss. Pepsi's capping the idea submissions at 1000 each month -- maybe to encourage fair voting, maybe to help them manage the submissions?

Though this isn't PepsiCo's first attempt at social. They launched the DEWmocracy campaign in 2007 as a crowdsourcing effort to develop a new product. Now they're doing it again using 12seconds.tv, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Nike is moving more towards social media as well. To play off the current "Deny Destiny" TV spot,  Organic filmed exclusive interviews with players and redesigned the Canadian site to include Facebook, Twitter and YouTube components. Nike also enlisted Steve "Dangle" Glynn, a popular hockey blogger and YouTube personality, to blog and tweet about the World Juniors.

For the Olympics, NikeTraining rolled-out the Nike TwitterStream for each athlete for each event. On each athlete page -- while they compete -- there's relevant tweets for fans to follow while they watch the games. You can participate by using designated hashtags.   

Creative Director Elliott Smith says their redesigned Canadian site "is meant to be just one part of visitors' online experience, rather than the hub. Comments for the videos are duplicated on Facebook, because that's where the target market 'lives and breathes every day,'"

Colleague Karri Ojanen doesn't think brands should rely singly on social media to connect with their customers. "The clients and agencies who can think of their decisions in terms of not just the individual tools, but the whole toolkit, and put it together with their own unique situation are the ones who will win. Coke's Prinz Pinakatt and Unilever's Cheryl Calverley seem to both understand that. They're not completely doing away with sites, but recognize the need to emphasize connections instead of a fairly static campaign property."

Sandy Marsh struggles "with there being any division anymore. The whole of the internet is social. What would be revolutionary is a brand that obliterates the divide rather than chooses one side or the other. I'm not saying I know quite how that can be done, but..."

Craig Ritchie agrees that brands will "benefit from moving away from the old model of buying traffic for short-term experiences," but thinks these examples still seem "like channel-based thinking." Brands that continue to adapt to consumer behavior rather than trying to interrupt it with messaging will be the ones to attract and sustain the fans. Starbucks, LEGO, Toyota and Dell (just to name a few) are already looking at the digital experience holistically. And these -- so far -- are the strongest in social media.
 
So who will win the social cola war? It might not be a clear cut champion. One might reign on Facebook, while the other might top Twitter. But really, it's how they use those tools and what (besides fans) that they hope to gain. As Forrester puts it, Pepsi "is putting Social Media to work for a higher goal--making the world a better place and associating the brand with that vision." They are taking social media seriously and thinking about the bigger picture.

Do you think companies are smart to devote more dollars to social?

Sarah Jo Sautter
 

Since January 26, Japanese Astronaut Soichi Noguchi has been on the International Space Station (ISS) Tweeting and sending pictures from his iPhone.   

Wonder who his provider is?

John Breton

Editor's Note: Nicholas Patrick, Jeff Williams and TJ Creamer are also Tweeting from space in two different spacecraft (ISS and Endeavor). While there is internet/computer access at the ISS, using a mobile device -- and Twitter -- signifies that NASA is not only keeping up with technology, but also with social trends.

image credit:http://www.flickr.com/photos/lemonhead1632

The Olympics have yet to officially begin, but the first real "event" has certainly occurred. Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili has suffered a horrific crash in a training run, and the news, including video is being passed through the social web with exceptional virulence.
 
The IOC, notorious for brand control, is attempting to pull down video of the event, but many videos are slipping through, as YouTubers furiously click the Yellow upload button to spread the content.
 
The video... it may be tough to watch, for some... was here.

Update - 1 minute later... that video is down ["This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by International Olympic Committee."]... and seemingly there are now no videos for "luge crash" from today on YouTube. Then moments later, colleague Tyler King found this one, which came down within mintues, too.

Unfortunately the outcome is tragic for the athlete and his family, as he reportedly died from the incident. But it's also tragic for the IOC's control strategy. In this age, really no organization can expect to win this battle. This is proof that [brand content] control is long gone for brands and organizations.
 
Craig Ritchie

So I have gotten a chance to start playing with Google Buzz. It has a nice "low bar, high ceiling" design.  Your average American who is used to posting or reading status updates on Twitter or Facebook will find it familiar (very different the entirely weird GoogleWave). On the other end of the spectrum, shareaholics will find value in the ability to stream content from multiple properties through Google profile similar to social aggregators like FriendFeed or SocialThing! Where Buzz starts to get more interesting is the ability to post from Google Maps with attached location data. This video shows all the details.
 

 
While each of these features pose a threat to competing niche startups, looking across the breadth services crammed into one platform, the only real competitor is Facebook. 
 
If, like everyone in America, you already have a Facebook account... why would you use this?
 
I can think of four good reasons. If you...

1. Already use Gmail as your main email address and are connected to many friends through this, Buzz allows for one-stop-shopping communications.

2. Have a specific social group associated with your Gmail account, it makes even more sense. For example if you use Gmail as your work email Buzz becomes like Yammer only with much broader functionality built in. 

3. Would like to simplify and share your content from social sites (and do not already use a social aggregation platform). Buzz makes this easier than Facebook, but your friends have to be on Gmail too.

4. Use Google Maps and have a smart phone. This is definitely a platform to consider since you can right from this app - pictures, reviews, etc. If you have an Android platform phone it is a no brainer.

The exciting thing about Google Buzz are the integration possibilities with other Google tools. In the launch press conference, Google promised corporate support in the near future (look out Yammer). I imagine there will soon be deeper integration with Android platform phones. Youtube, Google Trends, Goggles and of course Search all have exciting new functionality when paired with Buzz.
 
The real potential to disrupt the current Facebook monopoly is the fact that Google has sworn to make this an open platform. That means all of the data will be open and free for everyone to play with. The decision to be an open platform was one of the smartest moves Twitter made early on and spawned many innovative services that dramatically increased the value of their product (Twitter clients, data visualization tools, etc.). 
 
User adoption will determine whether this will be an important marketing platform in the future. Are these reasons compelling enough for you to try it? 
 
Russ Hopkinson 

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/malkoff

There's a war going on in the ebook arena between Amazon and Apple. Now that Apple has forced the issue of price, by offering books at a higher price than Amazon and with the help of Macmillan temporarily withdrawing titles from Amazon, why are consumers going to choose a device with a singular focus as opposed to one that functions as a reader and groovy netbook?

In a post this week, blogger Bob Lefsetz argues that rights holders, particularly in music, are fighting against the inevitable - a business model which moves from a la carte pricing to subscription. He cites the example of two videogame makers, one of whom sells games through traditional channels, and another who offers games for free, then gets consumers to buy added features after. The former gamemaker is going out of business, while the latter is thriving.

Apple absolutely cares about the price of content. It simply takes different approaches to pricing depending on the competitive landscape. It was through its aggressive initial pricing of songs on (.99) that helped establish the iTunes music store as the dominant player, iTunes as the dominant software and, most importantly, the iPod as the preeminent device.



In the case of ebooks, which Steve Jobs initially dismissed as insignificant ("people don't read"), Apple recognized that it needed to unseat Amazon's "first mover" leadership position. Here, it knew that it couldn't simply undercut Amazon's price; the publishers wouldn't go for it, plus it would most likely require each sale resulting in a loss, potentially far greater than the profitability of the iTunes Store for music. Instead, it introduced the iPad with higher individual and variable book prices, which "coincidentally" happened at the same time of Macmillan's very public pullback. Amazon caved, and now other publishers are going to start insisting on raising the prices of books, particularly popular ones. (This actually could be good for the industry, as people will pay more for the hits, but catalog items will be value price. Yet, per the New York Times, many readers are complaining loudly.)



Ultimately, as Lefsetz notes, it is all about selling hardware, but Jobs must know how important it is to have a steady stream of content - whether music, movies, podcasts, games, apps, etc. - for people to use on their devices. I'm sure Apple hates the fact that it had to raise prices for iTunes Plus to $1.29 per track. It means less people will probably buy music there, because most consumers thought .99 was too expensive and will just steal the music.

Regardless, I wouldn't count Amazon out. With the addition of color, and some more interactivity, the Kindle could quickly become a pretty cool device to compete with the iPad.

Are ebooks just as valuable to you as your printed ones?

Jonathan Cohen

Brand advocacy is a term that is thrown around a lot within the social media spectrum. Conversations usually center on finding brand advocates who will serve as a social media lightning rod and generate an avalanche of user-generated content from a community based on their actions. Marketers are just as likely to find these mythical advocates as they are to track down Big Foot riding a unicorn.

Igniting a social media avalanche does benefit greatly by finding exceptional advocates; however, marketers can't simply rely on finding the right catalysts to spark success. Here are five myths brands need to free themselves from before they can deploy a successful brand advocacy program:
   
1.  They aren't out there looking for you.

Guess what? People have been sharing tips and advice on products brands they use and love long before advertisers realized the power of word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. Consumers will continue to do so regardless of a brand's interaction, to help their friends, being acknowledged for their expertise, and sharing something they have found. It's the brands that need these people to help them authenticate and speak to potential customers they can't reach with ad dollars. However, marketers cannot expect these advocates to fall into their lap. If marketers don't have a CRM program, a strategy to reach out to bloggers and loyalists in niche forums, or any other venue for consumers to raise their voice, then you don't have a brand advocacy strategy.
   
2.  Some of your best advocates might not be your current customers.

What many brands fail to realize is that sometimes advocacy has nothing to do with a particular product and everything to do with a lifestyle. People who love Jeep, for example, may be fans of the brand in spirit as they associate with the car maker's branded outdoor adventure lifestyle long before, and even long after, they are owners of the vehicle. Some of your brand's biggest loyalists might not be talking about the company at all but talking about other products or activities that fit in with this lifestyle, including GPS devices, off-road trails and quality tires. While a truly great advocate will be able to speak about a product passionately and authentically, marketers shouldn't limit their search to current customers.
   
3.  It's not the size of your pool of fans, it's how you use them.

Coca-cola has 4 million fans. FAGE Greek Yogurt has 36K fans. Does that mean that Coca-cola is over 100 times more successful than FAGE in terms of brand advocacy? Well, that depends. What is the value of an advocate for Coca-cola versus FAGE or any other brand for that matter? I find myself asking, what does Coca-cola even need a Facebook fan page for? Coca-cola does not lack in awareness, but the purchase decision is largely made in the last steps at the grocery store as the result of a sale or coupon or is tied to beverage brand loyalty. But for FAGE, a small-time yogurt brand without much awareness, each one of their 36K fans could represent an opportunity for a new customer, coupon-pusher or a new voice piece to spread awareness to their circle of friends.
   
4.  A Facebook fan does not directly equate to a brand advocate.

For many people, becoming a "fan" of a brand on Facebook is as meaningful as acquiring a new bumper sticker or a patch on a heavily collaged backpack. It's a symbol of a lifestyle, it's a funny statement to their friends and is as temporarily interesting as the flow of the newsfeed that day. Ninety percent of the time a user spends on Facebook is in the newsfeed, so after they hit that "fan" button they likely will never return to your fan page. So while your fan page might say 10,000 "fans," that doesn't mean you have 10,000 "advocates." What it does mean, however, is that you have as many as 10,000 opportunities - but realistically probably much fewer - to create advocacy.
   
5.  Recognition, while always important, is not one-size-fits-all
.
Some advocates are altruistic, so in love with your brand and what it means to them that they aren't particularly looking for a reward. Others need to be motivated by the allure of something a little extra to come out of their shell. In either case, recognition can't hurt as it lets people know their participation is appreciated as they further the brand's awareness goals. However, approaches to recognition are not one-size-fits-all, as they have to be evaluated closely by audience and by industry. In other words, what does your audience want? The prize of "front page of YouTube" exposure that might appeal to the 18-year-old girl posting a video of herself singing about a new energy drink is likely going to terrify the middle-aged man or woman opening up about their use of incontinence products. Both should be rewarded, but not in the same way.

With the right mixture of targeting, motivation and recognition marketers can create the wave of user-generated content and goodwill that they crave from their social media strategies. There are many ways to do this but developing a stable of knowledgeable evangelists is a boon to marketers. Rather than simply locating brand advocates, marketers must also inspire evangelists within their community by delivering fun, engaging social media experiences to create a thriving online community. Once a community is effectively promoting members from within to carry the brand torch, marketers can claim victory in the social media space.

Marta Strickland

Editor's Note: This piece originally appeared in DM News.