The discussion has been long lived and still thrive… quite a bit of interesting stories floating around out there in the cloud. Thought I share some I find interesting and start an new series on the evolution of the internet, split into different focus… I’ll start with the social side (media, network etc.). If you have more, which I have no doubt, please share in the comments.
Keynote: Neville Hobson onAchieving measurable business results with social media
“Against a backdrop of changing behaviors in society and shifting climates of trust in the workplace, Neville Hobson illustrates what some organizations are doing with social media and how they are achieving measurable business results.”
Some interesting stuff in there with references to “the other” big social networks.
“Mediebyråns roll när medielandskapet förändras”
Fredrik Svensson, Creative Director at Starcom, speakes about the changing landscape for media companies and where social media plays a big part. It is all about a good idea, good collaboration between agencies/disciples, to involve the consumer and to see social media as a partner. Some good cases form Svenskafans.com, Guitar Hero and Wesec.com among other… and its in Swedish…
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Trendspaning: Det är inte framtid. Det händer nu.
Det händer otroligt mycket i de digitala medierna just nu och 2008 kommer sannolikt bli ett år som kommer att kommas ihåg. Annika Lidne från Lidne Inc. guidar genom några av de större trenderna och mer populära tjänsterna och företeelserna.
We had web 2.0, we now have Social Media. What happened to the internet / the web? Both of the mentioned are evolution of the internet, as a technology and as a communication channel. Think Hugh (Gapingvoid) make a good point “the main point of the internet is to remove “barriers to socializing. Everything else is secondary”.
Let’s go back to the internet and make it more social as intended.
This morning I spent two hours on the subject of IR (Investor Relation) and how it is impacted by the social shift online (a breakfast seminar by Intellecta Corporate och SpareBank 1 Gruppen). IR is a new angel for me so I decided to check out what some experts had to say.
Must say that it was quite interesting listening with a great finish act by SB1. One thing that is similar to most corps, not surprising but non the less, is how this strict, controlled and number driven area of communication react when the social aspect is entered in to the equation. We have a scenario where traditional set ways meet conversation in a not so set way. And we get the now traditional “shit, they are talking to and about us.. shit, shit… what to do now” scenario. This is where one of the speakers form Intellecta (Elias Betinakis) ended his presentation of “what is web 2.0/sm and a lot of Twitter” with an excellent point – for the first time ever companies can actually be personal in their response. This was further discussed by the enthusiastic “Direktør Informasjon og samfunnskontakt” at SB1 – Christian Brosstad – where he encouraged to use common sens, your gut feeling and most importantly be nice and tell the truth. (find the presentation here)
See, it seems that this social thing turns out not to be so bad after all, it is just a conversation with people that actually care about your brand. And if you look at is closely, it is actually a great opportunity! a great opportunity to tell your story, be personal hens building real loyalty for your brand.
All in all a good start to a Thursday morning. Now lets see if I can make our (read: the company I work for) IR preform as well.
I stress because I don’t blog, I get stressed if I blog because I don’t really have the time, I am stressed (well maybe more annoyed) because I have 20+ post almost ready but don’t get to finish them… and I really want to blog and twitter and … seriously! Time management is a b*¤#” isn’t it. Matt’s (techno//marketer) two hour minimum puts some light on the subject of how much time this social thing takes, must take, to work/be relevant/effective/be social. Talk to you all hopefully sooner then later 😉
After contemplating on the use of a very popular social network for “my” new company and trying to find an ROI friendly and or a search friendly (I am the recruitment business…) and or a communication friendly angel, I found these two posts on the subject of the social media term.
The biggest problem I have with the term “social media” is that it isn’t media in the traditional sense. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and all the others I don’t have the word count to mention aren’t media; they are platforms for interaction and networking. All the traditional media — print, broadcast, search, and so on — provide platforms for delivery of ads near and around relevant content. Social media are platforms for interaction and relationships, not content and ads. (Understanding and Aligning the Value of Social Media)
‘Who said this is media?’ He went on to apply a similar standard to the broader world of consumer-generated media. “I think when we call it ‘consumer-generated media,’ we’re being predatory,” he said. “Who said this is media? Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory. Media contains blank spaces. Consumers weren’t trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. … We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it.” (P&G Digital Guru Not Sure Marketers Belong on Facebook)
Think this a great way to approach the social online phenomenon, It is not a media it is a conversation. It can only be monetized if you allow for and join the conversation.
Unfortunately this did not help my contemplation, even added a few dimensions, but it is something to keep in mind. back to the drawing board.
Now here’s my assessment of the company’s opportunity.
FriendFeed aggregates many important data points about lifestyle and interest. Thus, it could become a very powerful behavioral marketing play. This wouldn’t be the place for demographically targeted brand advertising, or for FreeCreditReport.com to whack prospects over the head with direct response ads.
It would, however, be a good place for ads targeted by interest. Perhaps when someone reads that a friend posted a link to a product, or commented on a story about said product, or otherwise interacted with it, there would be an opportunity for a targeted online ad, once FriendFeed observed an interest in it.
For instance, if Jim Meskauskas twittered a link to a blurb about the new season of “Battlestar Galactica,” and I followed that link, I might start seeing ads for tune-in in my feed. In this way, targeted advertising would not only be able to inform, but it also could amplify viral effects, and we could avoid much of the criticism of online ads by steering clear of the shotgun approach.
I see an interesting ad play here, provided it’s managed such that the ads are kept relevant.
Agree in general – a good way of delivering ads here is to react on behavior and provide relevant ads/links. I would find it very annoying though to find ads floating around my feeds, even if relevant. These services are meant to be an overview of what is going on in your social sphere, clutter free… not filled with relevant ads…
Now, there is a big opportunity here – a endless sea of user behavioral data, both social and private – which can’t be ignored and must make money at some point (sorry to say, but that is the reality). In my opinion, we now have a chance to do something more and move along relevant ad serving.
A thought: we have the data and can attach this to some sort of promotion or brand, the questions is then how? Without being intrusive and add to the clutter. Thinking of in post linking – once an interests is identified one get links (ad served) added to relevant key words in the post and / or at the bottom, this is for both own and friends posts. As in the example above, Battlestar Galactica and a new season, when a key word relating to BG in your next posts appears, they are now linked to the new season site. You might also find links at the bottom of the post that links to complete previous season available for download on… or DVD. Should also add an link preview to this, you know rollover bubble of info on link (nice place for graphic as well). This I feel would eliminate the ads floating around (- clutter) and give relevant links to the specific interesting content right where you read… Thoughts?
The question on the table is – how to communicate to the social crowd in a ROI friendly way? Answer as always, meet them at the right frame of mind with the right information… Easy? not really, there’s a lot of metrics involved here. But now when companies are starting to specialized in targeting the social internet, collecting and evaluating all this valuable social behavioral data, this country road is quickly turning into a highway for advertisers/publishers/etc. It is all about user behavior, what are you doing and how much are you contributing.
Found this article form AdAge on the subject, well more like pr gig for a new startup, either way some interesting cases in there.
Side note – checking out the Lotame site I noticed something very interesting – their use of video. Video is good and it ads to the conversation, agreed… but when used just because… for example check out the company section and look at the video about user interaction, 22 sec of what? and you have to click to get more info… this is a royal pain. You are there to get a quick overview of the company and get videos that say nada and have to click for more… feel very much like a case of video for the sake of video. A quick text overview and some video that give more insight might would work here, thank you.
One of most talked about people during the SXSW 08 was winelibrary.com/WineLibrary.tv‘s own Gary Vaynerchuk. Seriously this guy rocks. Passion for what he dose and one of the guys that have really understood and harnessed the power of the social web. And changed the preservation of wine to thousands of non wine lovers. Found this video interview form Tara Hunt, on the topic how and what (Loving the name of Tara’s blog though – horsepigcow).
And here is an SXSW 08 spot with Kathy Sierra (invites Gary Vaynerchuk up during her presentation).
As I am getting into this new (for me) arena of blogging and look into how this area can be beneficial to me and my profession… A question has been to of mind for a while now – how do one get seen or more accurately read in this jungle of blogs? Yes, yes I know but still… Well, from experience and based on some quick research on the subject the answer is, not surprisingly, great content! Quality(key) ,timely and sympathetic content will do the trick. Well, this is 90% true, one also need to consider the standard stuff – SEO, design, networking, references and linking to strengthen ranking (or cred). And yes, this applies to all – go figure – no matter if you are selling a product, providing a service or just blogging away… to be heard one need content that interest and engages the intended audience… True more than ever now that we head down the social rout, where everyone contributes and shares, only the one with great content will be heard.
I found some great article on this at SEOmoz.org and also some great videos.
Can go on and on here… just remember great content is not great by it self it needs to be worked on. Now combine this with video and we got gold… (notice the effect with on the articles above?) will follow up on this soon…
