Efficiently finding and vetting influencers isn’t easy. Ideally an influencer-for-hire will have a unique voice and perspective that promises significant reach, resonance with target consumers and measurable persuasive power with an audience of his or her peers. If you are a doubter, consider this example. Engaging Kendall Jenner for its lash primer product, Estee Lauder aired the same video on their Instagram feed and on Kendall’s. The brand drove 7,000 likes. Kendall prompted 429,500 likes or 61 times more awareness and measured attention. By borrowing the equity and voice of an online influencer, brands can penetrate markets; gain access to likely prospects or position themselves relative to ideas and people their best customers care about. Research by SONY found that people are more than five times as likely to buy based on the recommendation of a social peer than having been exposed to traditional ads. Some influencers are engaged as brand ambassadors or standing spokespeople. They are not like celebrities in ads, paid touts. They are positioned as people with a connection and affinity to the brand. Others are leased on a one-time, finite or campaign basis. Marketers have to figure out upfront what they want from an influencer. The Read more…
Timing is one of life’s critical variables. According to new research from Social Flow, timing can also spell success or failure in social media. Think about it. Always-on social media is a constant news ticker adding content and commentary — instantaneously every minute of every day. Keeping up with the flow of people and ideas, even after expressing preferences by liking brands, is a task suited better for machines than people. For many brand marketers this torrent prompts a dread fear of missing out (FOMO). It means that whatever you have to say may either have a shelf life measured in nanoseconds or gain traction and capture global attention for several news cycles. Getting onto someone’s timeline or feed and gaining their attention, (much less persuading them or getting them to do something), is not guaranteed. In fact, there’s a pretty good chance that whatever you have to say will whiz past your fans and followers unnoticed. When ideas, images, memes or Kardashians gain significant traction, social media has its own dynamic. Peaks and valleys in attention, consideration or action are driven by an array of variables that most of us have no control over. Some topics come and go Read more…
Social CRM has become a buzzword. But don’t believe the hype. Social CRM is very early in its evolution from a big idea to a practical tool for marketers. According to Paul Greenberg, “Social CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow processes and social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. It’s the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation.” Everybody suspects that brands can interact meaningfully one-on-one with consumers through social networks. There is a yet-to-be-found nexus between traditional CRM and social networking that will yield more robust data profiles leading to more meaningful relationships between brands and their followers. Combining an explicit expression of interest (an email opt-in) with the more casual attention (a like) or inferred interest (a social profile), potentially identifies different consumers needing different persuasive approaches or offers. Ideally, combining social activity with demographic and behavioral data will give marketers a nuanced and segmented view of customers with which to craft more potent messages, offers and cadences. Getting a 360-degree view of customers and understanding who is Read more…
Facebook collects more data than credit bureaus, banks, telcos and list cooperatives. The combination of demographic and behavioral data is a potent tool for marketers assuming they can or will mine, package and share this data hoard. Best of all, this can be done in aggregate without identifying individuals or appending data to individual records, so privacy is assured as is the next premium priced level of service. Here’s a quick rundown of what they are doing with this stash today and what is possible or likely in the near term. Targeting. Currently Facebook has created more than 200 targeting channels based on demographics and expressed interests drawn from posts and profiles. Reaching moms, motorcycle enthusiasts or ballroom dancers is easier than ever. My clients have achieved cost efficiency, though response rates are a mixed bag suggesting that some of these channels need to be refined. ReTargeting. The ads that follow consumers around, on the right rail or the timeline, are behavior driven based on pixels attached to sites visited. Messages are triggered based on pages viewed online or on Facebook. A visit or a page view is a signal of interest or intention and the relatively high conversion rates Read more…
Now that Facebook has eliminated free reach, brands have to rethink and reformulate their Facebook strategies. Just 24 months ago, brands were wondering what the relationship between branded websites and Facebook should be and where should traffic and interaction be directed. But today they are bracing to be extorted yet again by Zuckerberg & Company and refocusing on owned and controllable properties. Reducing access to followers and fans has turned Facebook from an owned or earned property into paid media. From January forward anything that looks or smells like branded content will only get through if cash changes hands. This effectively kills carefully constructed editorial and posting strategies since no one will actually see a post unless it’s sponsored. The editorial/advertising one-two punch is over. Staffing teams of content producers and community managers to monitor, post and respond in real time knowing that the content will reach less than 5% of the fan base is now wasteful. Brands thinking that they would manage customer service issues, engage customers or showcase different facets of their product, service or company are mostly out of luck. Brands hoping to leverage massive traffic and consumer interaction once provided by Facebook, have to decide to Read more…