Larry Weintraub CEO, Fanscape

Q: You blogged recently about the importance of answering the “Why do I care?” question when developing social media campaigns. What are some examples of brands doing a good job of providing their customers with something of value?

A: There is a mad rush right now to get more people to “Like” you on Facebook. Success is being measured as how many fans you have and not necessarily on how much those fans are actually engaging with your brand. There are plenty of ways to get people to “Like” you. You can give them free stuff like Starbucks did originally with their ice cream and like Einstein’s Bagels did with a morning bagel and cream cheese. You can use other platforms to drive “Likes” like Bing did by giving people Farmville cash when they “Liked” Microsoft’s Bing Facebook page. And then there are a host of underground spam merchants that will guarantee you “Likes” for pennies a piece. But getting fans is only part of the strategy, keeping them there is much more important. And challenging!

So what should you do? Simply put yourself in the shoes of the consumer. What would you want to see? What would make you come back again after you got your free stuff or were drawn there by a promotion or piece of exclusive content?

There is a lot of noise out there. The typical person only “Likes” a handful of brands. They have so much going on in their lives and they are engaging with their friends multiple times of day on Facebook, so if you are a brand, you really need to stand out. Some of the brands that are doing a great job with this:

Skittles – For Skittles, it’s all about weird content. Turns out there are about 18 Million who like to watch and interact with like-minded weirdos.

Starbucks – Yes, they are the leaders in social media, but why is that? Because they listen to their customers. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said that last year’s growth was largely due to the fact that they actually listened to their customers and that social media was a huge part of that.

GameStop – A year ago they didn’t have a Facebook page. Now they have 2.5 Million fans and one of the most active Facebook pages of any retailer. Why? Because they have video game fanatics running their social media properties. If you want to see game trailers first, reminisce about games of yore, or get to meet the people that make the biggest games, then you visit every day.

Mountain Dew – Dew drinkers love to live on the edge. They are young passionate action sports fans. Once a year Mountain Dew introduces a new flavor and when they do, they turn to their Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube fans to help them create every element from choosing the flavor to actually making the television commercials. There are few brands that give this kind of power to their fans.

Now step back. What are your favorite products? Why would you follow them on Facebook or Twitter? What could that bar of soap, that denim jean manufacturer, that potato chip maker do for you that would make you come back over and over?

That’s where you start.

Allie Wester

I asked our staff if they had any thoughts on the matter or if they’d seen some great examples and I got some wonderful responses…

“I LOVE the Pretzel Crisps idea and I expect to see brands do more of this in the future. It’s a smart way to get new customers and reward loyal ones, and of course it has a great pass-along factor to it, too. A lot of brands regularly give out free product as an apology for a bad experience posted on Facebook or Twitter. On the flip side, I would love it if one of the brands I’m loyal to — say, Essie nail polish — sent me a bottle as a “thank you” for tweeting positive things about their polish. It would guarantee my brand evangelism for life, and I’d be sure to tell everyone about it!”

- Allie Wester, Social Media Manager

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“Two great examples come to mind…

1. KLM recently did a campaign called “KLM Surprises”. I LOVE this campaign. They basically cyber stalked people who were checking-in at the airport or tweeting about being at the airport for a KLM flight and then surprised them with a little present for their trip right at the gate. These presents were all personalized based on their twitter profiles, check-in comments, etc. and were not even KLM branded. It at first sounds a bit creepy and it’s a bit hard to explain, but they created a great video so I would recommend watching that since it does a great job summing it up. You can watch it here: http://surprise.klm.com/

2. Edge Shaving Gel also did a cool one where they surprised people who tweeted about something that irritated them with a solution. This was all a part of their “anti-irritation” campaign. For example, one man tweeted how irritated he was to be out of cereal and he was surprised with a box of cereal at his front door. Another woman tweeted that the voices in her head were speaking in Spanish — Edge responded with the gift of a Spanish/English dictionary. Here is the link to the Mashable article which gives some good insight on results: http://mashable.com/2011/01/18/edge-soirritating/ ”

- Kate Rafferty, Business Development

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“MARS is doing great stuff with their brands. Saw these two…

1. Mars Canada – Random Acts of Chocolate: http://www.facebook.com/marsacts

2. Skittles – Mob the Rainbow: for valentine’s day they surprised a Meter Maid with valentine cards http://bit.ly/iy5Fmp”

- Lisa Warnock, Business Development

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“Beyond even calling it “Random Acts of Kindness” – I see this as actually a new form of monitoring. Brands are now going beyond those who follow them/like them to find people simply talking about something relevant and reaching out. I imagine that they are taking a look at who has the most influence before deciding who to reward and who not to reward.

I think this new monitoring trend will become even bigger this year. The mobile extension of this monitoring trend is also forthcoming. Soon, when I check into my Pilates Studio, a brand will reach out to me with a coupon for a smoothie, workout gear, health food, spa treatments, etc. It won’t be just about your location – it will be about your lifestyle.

Check this out: http://adage.com/article/news/kraft-s-jell-o-plans-twitter-mood-monitor/227439/”

- Christy Wise, Social Strategy

Stats
What makes “Random Acts of Kindness” a viable social media strategy?  For starters, consumers are currently disclosing a vast amount of personal information on public forums: about their daily lives, their moods or their whereabouts (whether on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, GetGlue or any other number of social apps).  Secondly, consumers are interacting with brands more and more and they are expecting brands to interact with them in a way that’s rewarding to them.   Last, but not least, brands are increasing the amount of time and resources on monitoring the social web.  Put it all together and you have the makings of a win-win program.

How is that for a headline? It is a quote from mega new media/tech publisher and conference guru, Tim O’Reilly during a one-on-one interview he did with Jason Calacanis on Friday at this year’s SXSW conference.  O’Reilly told the story of how the government/military GPS program was made public during Reagan’s presidency paving the way for today’s location-based maps and corresponding applications.

I’m a longtime veteran of SXSW Music, but only a sophomore at SXSW Interactive.  This year’s SXSWi was incredible with attendance surging between 15,000 – 20,000 attendees.  A collection of techies, brands, nerds, hipsters, and foodies came together to learn, meet, eat, and drink.

This year’s standout technology was group messaging with GroupMe and Beluga leading the charge. The idea here is that you invite a small group of friends to follow and interact with you, thus avoiding all the clutter and keeping tabs on just the specific people you are most interested in hearing from.  That said, plenty of people were using last year’s darlings Foursquare and year before favorite Twitter to communicate where they were and what they were doing.

Celebrities were abound with sightings of Ashton Kutcher, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Pee Wee Herman stopping by parties, panels, and the IFC Crossroads House for interviews.

Also standing out were some significant brand activations.  Chevy was cutting into the local cab business by providing attendees with free rides in their Volts and other new cars, AT&T supplied much-needed phone recharge centers, and Pepsi had the largest party zone featuring Foursquare-sponsored four square tournaments and plenty of free PepsiMax.

Panels were spread out amongst numerous venues and standouts were AT&T’s head of social media Chris Baccus explaining the complexities of handling customer complaints via Facebook and Twitter, R/GA’s top brass advising on how to avoid your brand becoming obsolete and Wieden+Kennedy presenting the Old Spice case study to a packed room that left hundreds turned away at the door.

While the dense crowds at the Driskill and Four Season hotels made business meetings a challenge, there was still a lot of networking getting done.  Despite the occasional feeling of claustrophobia and exhaustion, SXSW continues to be the most informative and fun conference of the year.

Facebook Pages are Redesigned and Administrator Features are Added
Facebook recently redesigned Pages that look similar to the revamped personal profiles. Facebook offers page owners to preview and upgrade early to the new format (which will shortly become mandatory). You may have already noticed brands switching over to the new layout. If you have, you’ll notice:

• 5 Photos at the top of the page (like personal profiles)
• Navigation is now on the left vs. top of the page
• Activities from others are filtered into the news feed
• The “everyone” feature allows admins to highlight items as top wall posts
• By selecting the “Use Facebook as a Page” option in the account section, admins will be able to get notifications when fans interact with or post comments to a page
• Admins will be able to switch between speaking as the page, and as their own personal profiles

Not everyone is happy with these changes, but few ever are when it comes to change.  Read more HERE.

Facebook’s Next Big Media Move: Comments
Facebook is launching a new third-party commenting system in the upcoming weeks. Unlike Facebook’s “social plug-in” service, the new system involves “handling the log-in and publishing” and automatically “cross-promoting comments on individual’s Facebook walls, and possibly even promoting them as well on media outlets’ own ‘fan pages.” Interesting fact: the new service will have the ability to “surface high quality comments or help users identify trolls and spammers by assigning users an aggregated credibility score.”  Read more HERE.

Facebook Forcing “Credits” on Game Partners
By July Facebook will require all game partners use Facebook credits as their virtual payment processing system. Here are some facts associated with Facebook credits from the article:

• Credits currently processes more than 70% of virtual goods transactions on the network, spanning more than 350 applications
• Developers using Credits can keep 70% of the revenue from virtual goods transactions
• 10 FB Credits currently cost $1 for consumers

Read more HERE

Facebook Sponsored Stories Now Available in the Facebook Self-Serve Ad Tool
Facebook’s self-serve performance ad tool now allows Page, Place and application admins to create Sponsored Stories ads. The recently launched ad unit allows admins to pay for additional distribution of Page stories as well as user updates that mention them in Facebook’s ad space. Until now, these ads could only be bought through a Facebook managed brand advertising representative.  Read more HERE.

The Green Bay Packers’ 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Texas drew a U.S. TV audience of 111 million, topping the 2010 final tally by almost 5 million, according to data released on Monday by broadcaster Fox.

“The airing of Super Bowl XLV goes down as Fox’s most-watched night of prime time ever, as well as Fox’s highest-rated night ever among Adults 18-49. It’s also the most-watched night on any network in at least 20 years,” Fox said in a statement.

Last year, 106.5 million watched the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts, surpassing the 106 million who tuned in for the finale of the comedy “M*A*S*H” in 1983.

The Super Bowl in 2009 drew 98.7 million viewers, and the audience in 2008 was 97.5 million.

And it didn’t stop with game day. Over 31 Million people have watched little Darth Vader use his powers to start a Volkswagen on YouTube, and 30 other advertisers actually premiered their much anticipated commercials online in advance of the Super Bowl.

Some other corresponding and interesting stats include:

• Harris Interactive Study. 25% of women exclusively watch for commercials. 12% of men.
• Per Clearspring: Posts mentioning Pepsi Max increased by 3,000% followed by Super 8, and Carmax. Chrysler also experienced a 1300% increase in searches for the brand name followed by Pepsi Max at 950% and Chatter.com at 900%.
• VW’s the Force was the most talked about ad on Twitter. 1 million views in 24 hours before Super Bowl even aired. Increased FB fans to the VW page by 20,000.
• Bud Light spent 1.2 billion for Super Bowl naming rights + ad time (the biggest investment of any brand).

Yes $3 Million is a fortune for a spot, but one could argue the reach extended via social media helps make that number a little more digestible.

I had a dinner with some friends last night and explained to them what LivingSocial/Groupon was all about.  (see that note below) Then today this too-good-to-be-true offer came in which just emphasized my point on why people love these companies.

Posted January 19th, 2011 at 12:56 pm by Gavin O’Malley

It looks like Groupon rival LivingSocial hit it big this week after offering members a $20 Amazon gift card for $10. “In just the first few hours of the sale, users have already purchased over 243,000 coupons,” reports ReadWriteWeb. How did LivingSocial land such a sweat deal? Well, as you may recall, Amazon invested $175 million into the startup in December. As such, Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Jeremy Lew calls this week’s deal “the first step of operational integration from that investment.” According to ReadWriteWeb, “Some are predicting the deal is on a course to outperform the previous blockbuster daily deal, when Groupon offered $25 off a $50 purchase at the Gap.” That resulted in some $13 million worth of coupons being sold. With nearly a day left to go, the LivingSocial deal had already sold over $2 million worth of coupons Wednesday morning. The final sales figure likely means little to Amazon, which is more interested in marketing the LivingSocial brand. Indeed, with Amazon’s help, it’s not hard to imagine LivingSocial achieving Groupon-like heights.

From: Larry Weintraub
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 12:01 PM
To: My Friends
Subject: FW: 50% Off Amazon.com Gift Card

Last night at dinner we had a conversation about Groupon / LivingSocial.  Today this came in from LivingSocial.  $20 gift card for $10 from Amazon.  No expiration date, limit one.

On a typical day and a typical deal, LivingSocial or Groupon will get anywhere form 300 – 3,000 people to buy one of these offers.  Today’s offer from LivingSocial is already over 650,000 and will probably hit 1 million today.  So, if you wonder why Google was prepared to pay nearly $6 Billion for Groupon (which they declined and I bet we see a similar offer coming soon for LivingSocial), now you know why.  They will do $20 Million in business today alone.  Doesn’t mean they are profitable, just gives you an idea of how big these things are.

By the way, I recommend you sign up to LivingSocial today and get this deal.  It only lasts til the end of the day and then it’s gone.  You can unsubscribe after that if you don’t want to get emails every day from them.  But hek, it’s $10 free to spend at Amazon.

Larry

1. Smartphones as common as the toaster. 2011 is the year smartphones take over. With an expectation of smartphones nearing 50% penetration in the US, Verizon adding the iPhone, and tablets taking over, we’re all going to be walking, talking, emailing, playing, and sharing while we chew gum. Mobile extensions to your social marketing plans are a must. Optimize your messaging for iPhone, iPad, Galaxy, Blackberry, Droid, et al.

2. Companies will integrate social feedback into their decision making process. In 2011, we will see a growing number of companies finally go beyond using social channels merely for building awareness and providing support. Expect to see a rise in companies who, by end of year, will be recognized for socially-informed innovation, customer focus and work environment, much like Zappos and Amazon were a few years back. (Predicted by Ravit Lichtenberg on Read, Write, Web)

3. Social Commerce. People like their Facebook, that’s where they spend most of their time online.  Facebook would prefer you didn’t leave.  So, why not buy all your stuff right there? Right now on Facebook you can book your Delta Airlines flight and buy your buddy a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream.  We’re definitely going to see more of this transactional business directly on Facebook this year.  And then we’ll start seeing it in other social platforms, not to mention on our phones.

4. Website Evolution. Websites will continue to become more social. Should I have a website or should I just be on Facebook?  You need both.  In fact, you need to be in more places: LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress/Tumblr/Posterous.  And this list will grow.  Start by making your website more social.  Integrate Facebook open graph; allow people to “like” and rate the content on your website.  Overarching plan: give people a reason to return or else they’ll grab your store hours or client list and never come back.

5. Groupon: here today… Prediction is that we’ll burn out on the current incarnation by year’s end.  But that doesn’t mean it is going away.  Let’s call it what it is, the digital version of the guy with the sandwich board handing out flyers.  Retailers have more opportunities to drive people into their stores than ever before.  Ask a retailer if they liked their Groupon (and similar) experience and about half will say no.  Consider this a brilliant innovation or a retail marketing disrupter, but we’ll see more of this.  Google wasn’t going to spend a fortune buying Groupon for their health.  This is the evolution of targeted advertising.  Foursquare had you check in, Groupon had you buy a deal, expect a merging of the two: meet your friends at the local bar, the whole table gets a discount.  Reward the loyal and those who return, not just the lookie loos.

6.    The Digital Talent Pool The real talent—the ones you really want—are entrepreneurial and creative, and they’re not waiting around in your lobby to get a job. They’re trying it on their own.  Media outlets will find future talent on YouTube, iTunes, or other popular audio/video on-demand sites like BlogTalkRadio. NBC Universal announced an initiative last week where they will select 20 popular “tweeters” in each market to create content for their websites, broadcast segments, and other distribution channels.  (- Jessica Northey on Social Media Today)

7.    Video, not just for looking at babies and cats. YouTube is the number 4 most viewed website and guess who just cracked the top 20?  Netflix.  (per Alexa) Most of the sites on the rest of the list serve up plenty of video too (Facebook, Yahoo!, CNN, etc.).  Pay attention to sites like eHow and Howcast if you want to know how to build a table, bake a cake, or change a car battery.  People like visuals.  Show and tell is easier than ever and again, it’s what people want.  And going back to mobile, people can watch this on the go now too.

8.    Digital and Social immersion. Merge radio frequency identification (RFID) with smartphones and social networking and you complete the loop of total immersion in connectedness.  One word: EpicMix.  See what they are doing at Vail ski resorts and you’ll get it.  Your ski pass is embedded with a unique ID.  It knows where you are, how many miles you’ve skied, it tells you where your friends are, and it provides a platform to add photos and video.  You unlock badges that automatically update to your Facebook page.  You don’t need to do anything.  Imagine the extensions to shopping, dining, and travel.

9.    Cause Marketing. Expect brands to integrate a little extra feel good into their strategies.  Over the last two years charity started at home, but we’re starting to loosen our purse strings a little bit.  When it’s apples to apples, we’ll lean towards the more socially conscious product.  And technology is making this easy through things like text donations for NPR podcasts and fundraising apps such as kickstarter.  Remember this term too: Crowdfunding.

10.    Social Search. We put this at the end because it really started last year.  We just don’t believe everyone quite understands it yet.  At least not its implications for brands and their products.  Realize that when people now have conversations about you via open social networks (i.e. Twitter – for the moment), that filters into the search query.  Immediately.  So when you are looking up where to buy a barbecue, you’ll see real time conversations about the exact same thing!

Innovations and honorable mentions, a.k.a. things to keep an eye on this year: Quora, Social Scrapbooking, Social news on your tablet (e.g. Flipboard), near field communication (i.e. mobile payments, mobile ticketing, QR code reading, etc.), entertainment check-in apps (e.g. GetGlue, Philo, Miso), and of course, web-enabled televisions.