MW3: The Largest Entertainment Release in History

Each year, just as the Oscar-worthy movies begin to populate the theatres, an even bigger entertainment phenomenon surfaces, the latest installment of the video game juggernaut, Call of Duty. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 hit stores this week and our friends at GameStop saw lines around the block all across North America. Check out the GameStop photo gallery HERE and the promo video HERE .

Interesting Stats We Came Across

In light of Groupon’s recent IPO we found some stats about their business thanks to Statspotting:

• Cost of acquiring each subscriber: $5.
• Avg. Number of Groupons sold per subscriber: .32.
• Avg. Revenue per subscriber: $3.45.
• Non-marketing costs per subscriber in a quarter: $2.21.
• Profit per subscriber per quarter: $1.24.
• # of quarters to earn back acquisition
  cost of subscriber: 4.

Stories We Like

The Great Teach War of 2012

Facebook, Spotify and the Future of Music

The Smartphone Wars are Over

Marketing That Inspires Us

Nature Valley is doing a great job of mapping the world’s hiking trails for us. Imagine hikers with Google-like cameras strapped to their heads. Now eat a granola bar and check this out HERE.

Great Wolf Water Park

Ushuaia Hotel in Ibiza

Coke

Renault at the Auto Show

1. Will people add another online destination to their daily rituals? Every day most people check emails and Facebook. There are plenty of those that do other things, but as a whole, will we add it to our daily “must do” list?  That said, if one company can make us do this, it’s Google. With the obvious extensions to search, Gmail, YouTube, and their other properties, Google has more online reach than any other company in the world.
2. What will the brand experience look like? Brand pages have not officially debuted, so we don’t know exactly what the experience will be like. We can get a taste from Ford, but we’re still a few weeks away from the official rollout.  Meanwhile we’re reserving brand pages for our clients and we’ll see what’s possible once the brand strategy goes live.

There are some great posts that explain Google+ in detail here, here and here.

“Is the new Google+1 button a success?”

We don’t know yet. But we do know that it recently surpassed the tweet button in about a month since its release. That’s an impressive, and somewhat unexpected, outcome. However, the other new social products, or “projects” as Google would like to call them, will likely determine the long term success of this new social feature from Google.

“Then, will Google’s newest social media platform, Google+, be the one to change it all and finally bring success to Google’s tireless efforts to become something more than a search engine?”

For anyone to even attempt to answer such question right now, he or she would need access to Google+ to experience it themselves or rely on some of the lucky users who have already experienced it only to give a third person point of view answer to the question. But sure enough, Fanscapers happen to be on top it all, again – we already got access to Google+ and personally tested it all out to give you more of a personalized answer to your question. More specifically, we will discuss here our first impression and user experience with Google+; the probability of its success against Facebook; and what brands need to prepare for.

Get ready, set, go.

Eric Fransen – Senior Manager, Social Media Marketing.

It’s not clear whether Google+ is going to be a true contender to Facebook because the product is currently in very limited beta. At a glance, the interface seems very clean and intuitive, which bodes well for Google. The HTML 5 integration is also a plus, making the user experience seamless and speedy. I think the implementation of Circles from the get-go puts them ahead of Facebook lists, as that feature was added too late for people to be expected to go back and organize thousands of contacts.

I’m not banking on brands having a big presence on Google+ yet. Perhaps once the adoption rate is higher it could make more sense, but right now as a pure broadcasting and conversational tool, it does not offer anything above and beyond.

Something I’d like to see with their product is for a company to set up circles for audience segments, and people could opt in to specific buckets of messaging (e.g. FPS, Sports, Puzzle for types of gaming). This could be a powerful tool that would certainly make it more relevant to brands.

So the Circles feature has great potential – curious to see how it develops.

Allie Wester – Manager, Social Media Marketing

I am loving Google+ thus far! I especially love the Android app – it’s gorgeous.  Google+ was a pleasant surprise. I was excited for it, but wasn’t expecting much after the letdown of Buzz. Google+ turned out to be great and I can’t wait to see what else they do with it.

Google+ is a worthy opponent to Facebook and I think the competition is a good thing for both Google+ and Facebook to continue to innovate. Facebook has the upper hand when it comes to user base, but Google has so many existing platforms that people use day in and day out – Blogger, Gmail, Maps, etc. Building a social layer on top of all of that makes total sense. I’m anxious to see how the Google+ vs. Facebook battle pans out. Only time will tell!

Being that Google+ is a completely new platform, brands need to be adventurous and willing to test out what works and what doesn’t work at first. If a brand is very conservative and plays it safe – then Google+ isn’t the place for them yet.

Mike Fein – Director, Research and Analytics

Google + adds another layer of connection between Social Media engagement and SEO.  Google has placed increasing weight on a strong social presence in calculating their search results.  Any brand that is serious about social media, SEO, or SEM should consider how to best use Google +.  Brands also need to be flexible on a tactical level as it is still unknown how consumers will use Google +.

Christy Wise – Social Media Strategist

My first impression of Google + is that it is easy to use and has captured the basic necessities of a social network. Google has found a solution to Facebook’s biggest problem – which is not being able to effectively separate your network into segments of people, which is how most operate in real life. The ability to create circles using Google+ taps into many users’ desire to cater their individual messaging to a group of their choice. I don’t necessarily want my coworkers to see the same messages as my friends or my family. This will also prove great for brands that may have multiple segments within their target audience that they want to cater messages to. Google pages for brands is said to be on its way.

I think Google is a worthy opponent, but I am doubtful it will overtake Facebook any time soon. Many people still do not see Google as anything more than a search engine or a collection of functional, handy tools and applications. Getting people to see it as a true social environment is going to be a challenge.  Also the inability to use Google+ with Facebook is a problem. Though there are solutions around this block, the average user may not recognize them. And if their friends aren’t using it, they won’t either.

To prepare for possible new dominant social network platforms, Fanscape is first doing our research. We are closely monitoring property launches, listening to the buzz surrounding them, and staying on top of news about new changes or updates to existing properties that may be a benefit or hindrance to our clients. Once that information is compiled and collected and we feel we have the best possible working knowledge of a new property or change to an existing one, we will begin implementing this property into our strategic recommendations. As for Google +, we are still waiting for an ETA on when brand pages will launch and in the mean time we are all getting familiar with the product and listening to what others are saying about it before we make the recommendations to our clients to move forward with using it.

According to some of Fanscape’s brightest minds in social media marketing, although everything is still very unclear, Google+ seems to have taken its first step right.

While we are asking brands to remain flexible for possible major changes in their social media marketing strategy, with all of its potentials still up in the air, we are keeping our close eye on Google+ waiting for the perfect moment to integrate it into our marketing mix to create the best possible social synergy for our clients.

Scott Biggers

When I was at SXSW, I got to share the experience with some great people. My friend Scott Biggers sent me his recap and I asked him if I could share it here. To which he said, “of course!” So here goes…

My impressions of 2011 SXSW.

• Overwhelming. The conference feels too big. Too many locations, SRO sessions, and escalator jams. Too many people, hipster hats and iPads, as well. Aside: When I sat next to some iPad toting developer in a session, he glanced at me with my primitive notebook and phone and said, with a mix of reassurance and condescension, “That’s OK. I’ve got an iPhone, too.”
• The impressive writeups of the sessions rarely matched the sessions themselves.
• Presentations are more informative than panel discussions. Panel discussions are more entertaining than presentations.
• Love the serendipitous meetings and networking opportunities. (Especially when you’re hanging with someone like Larry.)
• Overuse of the mysterious “social graph” term.

Top three quotes

1. “Geospatial reasoning” – Even though the context was the geo-location game session, my geek buzzword siren went off.
2. “Ceding control to the peeps” – Bob Garfield, half-jokingly getting hip
3. “Thinking in real time” – Classic.

My ten favorite observations from the sessions:

1. Check in is a brick and mortar “like” button
2. TV used to be the definition of being at home. Only way it could grow was to escape from the home.
3. Social TV simply mirrors the allure of watching TV together. (Remember the laugh track?)
4. Number of followers and likes in social media is not a good measurement of engagement.
5. Nor is giving a thumbs up or making a comment; that’s not engagement
6. Agencies are afraid of non-fiction for the brands they represent. They’re used to putting Vaseline on the lens.
7. 40 year old mom is the hardcore gamer for Zynga
8. Augmented Reality leads us to the Outernet, where the phone becomes your mouse and everything is clickable. (The Internet of Things)
9. Customers are more interested in talking to your employees than to your brand.
10. Innovation is driven by desires. It used to be driven by companies – but now is driven by consumers. Mobile TV has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with people

To elaborate on that final point:
Amid the promises, explorations, and celebrations of the latest technology at SXSW, there was a constant reminder of humanity. As in technology and innovation only work when they provide a utility and serve the needs of people. Also, that people love stories – and they love to be part of stories.

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.

Sounds like a plan, huh?  Well, what if Apple decides to put out their own version of the Kindle and it’s sexier in a way that only Apple can produce?

Read this article!

Pushing your brand at a time like this turns me off as a consumer and shows how truly out of touch your brand is with the Twitter public.

I plan on un-following a few companies today who chose to practice bad marketing, and I don’t think I’ll be alone.