‘Citizen Journalism’, ‘The Conversation’ and ‘The Buzz’. These are 2009 buzzwords that describe mainstream consumer behaviour of interacting with social media, the social media vehicles that interact with each other to carry a voice, and the amplification of the voice by social media influencers.
Powerful stuff if the voice is talking positively about your brand!
Growing social capital enables a brand to more easily and cost-effectively influence via social media networks. Creative guerrilla tactics are becoming increasingly commonplace as brands start to leverage social media and grow their social capital. ‘The buzz’ has to start somewhere, and that somewhere is creativity that attracts the attention of 'citizen journalist'.
The Sony Bravia Balls campaign is a well documented case study as the benchmark for how to successfully use social media on the back of simple guerrilla creativity. This was complimented by the consistently creative Bravia paint explosion on a Glasgow housing estate.
T-mobile’s Liverpool Street flash mob dance campaign is another example of guerrilla marketing generating a social media buzz.
Both of these examples leveraged upon today’s consumer behaviour of recording videos and taking pictures on their mobile phones and sharing these via social media. Both brands listened to the unfolding conversation and encouraged the buzz by feeding consumers with more of what they wanted to hear. As a result, the social capital of both Sony Bravia and T-mobile brands established.
Social media communications are now mainstream and fully integrated into consumer behaviour, and it is this evolved and powerful consumer behaviour that brands need to be aware of and leverage upon. So Brands, what are you waiting for? Venture into the concrete jungle and go guerrilla – your citizens are waiting for you with their mobile phones!
RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: iPhone sales grow despite market downturn
Cx3 blog entry: Social media heads are round, is yours?
Cx3 blog entry: How social is your conversation?
Cx3 blog entry: Twitter flies Hudson plane around the world
Cx3 blog entry: iPhone driving growth in mobile internet usage behaviour
Showing posts with label The conversation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The conversation. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Friday, 8 May 2009
Cx3: The conversation prism 2.0
Brian Solis and JESS3 have evolved the conversation prism since its first release in August 2008. The conversation prism 2.0 places brand at the centre of the prism and introduces a workflow rotation of concentric circles assisting in the establishment of rhythmic value-added engagement.
RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: The Dominos effect - reputation management
Cx3 blog entry: Social media heads are round, is yours?
Cx3 blog entry: How social is your conversation?
Cx3 blog entry: Twitter, Stephen Fry and halibut
Cx3 blog entry: The growth of Twitter
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Cx3: The Domino’s effect - reputation management
This week saw Domino’s Pizza’s social media reputation management go into overdrive in order to prevent a global toppling of the Domino’s Pizza brand.
A couple of employees in one of its franchises filmed themselves interfering with food that was supposedly destined for customers - the Domino's videos were then posted on You Tube. The YouTube videos were picked-up by the Good As You blog, which has subsequently become in active conversation with Tim McIntyre - Vice President of Communications at Domino’s pizza.
To further counter the negative impact that the Domino's videos may have on its brand, questions are currently being answered on the Domino’s Twitter site in an attempt to quash concerns from its customers.
It shows that the domino effect (unfortunate, but apt naming) is alive and well with extra cheese on top when the social media conversation goes sour, however, Domino’s Pizza have clearly shown how to leverage social media vehicles in order to manage its brand reputation when damage limitation is required on a global scale.
RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: Social media heads are round, is yours?
Cx3 blog entry: How social is your conversation?
Cx3 blog entry: Twitter, Stephen Fry and halibut
Cx3 blog entry: The growth of Twitter
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Cx3: Social media heads are round, is yours?
“Our heads are round so thoughts can change direction”
This profound quote from French artist and poet Francis Picabia (1879-1953) is an accurate philosophical musing that emphasises how today’s businesses should embrace emerging media and the social media conversation.
The conversation
The conversation vehicles are well known now:
- Micro-blogging
- Blog posting and comments
- Image/Video/Slide sharing
- Social Networking
- Bookmarking
The conversation is a wild and rampant beast, and erstwhile “life is for sharing”, the conversation risks turning into Chinese whispers. If the conversation generated by social media mentions your business, then you need to be involved. Reputation management goes hand-in-hand with the organic nature of the social media conversation – if your company or brand is being talked about, the conversation needs to be listened to, learned from and if necessary acted upon accordingly.
Media monitoring and listening
Media monitoring has been established for well over a century – Durrants was providing press cuttings to the aristocracy as far back as 1880. We live in a different age now, but the same monitoring goals apply, but to a much wider communications universe.
Purposeful campaign marketing and event-based communications will naturally tie into carefully prioritised key messages. Social media monitoring and measurement tools allow these key messages to be ‘listened for’ in the conversation. Companies can evaluate how influential the speaker is and assess the tone of what is being said. The volume of the conversation and the share of voice across the conversation vehicles can be identified and the timeliness mapped against a communications plan.
Learning and acting-upon the conversation
Our heads are round not stuck in the sand. The social media conversational evidence can be humbling when set against business expertise, however, this bitter pill must be swallowed for the greater educational good of understanding people, focusing on preferred communication channels and closer monitoring of a competitive marketplace.
Acting upon and taking part in the conversation as part of reputation management sustains the positive key messages, however, transparency and relevancy are of utmost importance – lie and you’ll be found out and the conversation could work against you. Ultimately, long-term insight generated by the conversation will lead directional change in business thinking and its interactions.
RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: How social is your conversation?
Cx3 blog entry: Social Networking World Forum
Cx3 blog entry: Twitter, Stephen Fry and halibut
Cx3 blog entry: The growth of Twitter
Cx3 blog entry: Facebook, the influential social networking book face
This profound quote from French artist and poet Francis Picabia (1879-1953) is an accurate philosophical musing that emphasises how today’s businesses should embrace emerging media and the social media conversation.
The conversation
The conversation vehicles are well known now:
- Micro-blogging
- Blog posting and comments
- Image/Video/Slide sharing
- Social Networking
- Bookmarking
The conversation is a wild and rampant beast, and erstwhile “life is for sharing”, the conversation risks turning into Chinese whispers. If the conversation generated by social media mentions your business, then you need to be involved. Reputation management goes hand-in-hand with the organic nature of the social media conversation – if your company or brand is being talked about, the conversation needs to be listened to, learned from and if necessary acted upon accordingly.
Media monitoring and listening
Media monitoring has been established for well over a century – Durrants was providing press cuttings to the aristocracy as far back as 1880. We live in a different age now, but the same monitoring goals apply, but to a much wider communications universe.
Purposeful campaign marketing and event-based communications will naturally tie into carefully prioritised key messages. Social media monitoring and measurement tools allow these key messages to be ‘listened for’ in the conversation. Companies can evaluate how influential the speaker is and assess the tone of what is being said. The volume of the conversation and the share of voice across the conversation vehicles can be identified and the timeliness mapped against a communications plan.
Learning and acting-upon the conversation
Our heads are round not stuck in the sand. The social media conversational evidence can be humbling when set against business expertise, however, this bitter pill must be swallowed for the greater educational good of understanding people, focusing on preferred communication channels and closer monitoring of a competitive marketplace.
Acting upon and taking part in the conversation as part of reputation management sustains the positive key messages, however, transparency and relevancy are of utmost importance – lie and you’ll be found out and the conversation could work against you. Ultimately, long-term insight generated by the conversation will lead directional change in business thinking and its interactions.
RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: How social is your conversation?
Cx3 blog entry: Social Networking World Forum
Cx3 blog entry: Twitter, Stephen Fry and halibut
Cx3 blog entry: The growth of Twitter
Cx3 blog entry: Facebook, the influential social networking book face
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Cx3: How social is your conversation?
Conversational marketing through social media is coming into its own in 2009. But are companies treating social media as a serious channel that can be integrated into their marketing mix?
The current economic climate affords accountability of marketing spend and, as a result, communication effectiveness measurement is high on the agenda. The timely rise of conversational social media marketing offers an attractive option that can be measured and evaluated quickly whilst achieving ultimate communication and business goals.
Harnessing 'the conversation' through social media for marketing purposes is understanding its fluidity, its reach and its speed. Conversational marketing initiatives must consider the wider channel mix (broadcast, mobile, online, mail etc.), what interaction social media has with these channels and the micro-social media interactions that occur over a period of time. Any conversation then needs to be monitored, assessed and responded to where necessary.
Vitrue, who analyse the online conversations of a variety of social networking, blogging, micro-blogging, photo and video sharing sites, has released a list of brands in the Vitrue 100 - Top Social Brands of 2008. Their analysis tracks the movement of a single brand over time based on online conversations and can be used to compare a brand with its competitors, either at an individual point in time, or over a period of weeks or months.
Looking at the Vitrue 100, an audience profile can be built-up based on the brands mentioned. This profile would be: youthful; media immersed; technology savvy; a communication maven – Generation Y ring any bells? There is a clear directional bent for the type of audience participating in ‘the conversation’ – marketers can learn from this. So how social is your conversation going to be in 2009?
RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: Social Networking World Forum
Cx3 blog entry: Generation Y communicate, unite and shout
The current economic climate affords accountability of marketing spend and, as a result, communication effectiveness measurement is high on the agenda. The timely rise of conversational social media marketing offers an attractive option that can be measured and evaluated quickly whilst achieving ultimate communication and business goals.
Harnessing 'the conversation' through social media for marketing purposes is understanding its fluidity, its reach and its speed. Conversational marketing initiatives must consider the wider channel mix (broadcast, mobile, online, mail etc.), what interaction social media has with these channels and the micro-social media interactions that occur over a period of time. Any conversation then needs to be monitored, assessed and responded to where necessary.
Vitrue, who analyse the online conversations of a variety of social networking, blogging, micro-blogging, photo and video sharing sites, has released a list of brands in the Vitrue 100 - Top Social Brands of 2008. Their analysis tracks the movement of a single brand over time based on online conversations and can be used to compare a brand with its competitors, either at an individual point in time, or over a period of weeks or months.
Looking at the Vitrue 100, an audience profile can be built-up based on the brands mentioned. This profile would be: youthful; media immersed; technology savvy; a communication maven – Generation Y ring any bells? There is a clear directional bent for the type of audience participating in ‘the conversation’ – marketers can learn from this. So how social is your conversation going to be in 2009?
RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: Social Networking World Forum
Cx3 blog entry: Generation Y communicate, unite and shout
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Cx3: Twitter flies Hudson plane around the world
This week, the expert landing of the Hudson river plane crash was captured by Twitterer (a noun used by the BBC) Janis Krums and uploaded to the social networking site via his mobile phone. His remarkable Twitter picture of the Hudson plane crash instantaneously became an iconic representation of the arrival of social network reporting and raised the profile of Twitter as a global communications network.
Citizen journalism is not a new phenomenon, but what has got the media industry reeling is the fact that traditional reporting media channels were beaten at their own game as they struggled to broadcast the story. Mobile technology combined with social networking consumer behaviour and a newsworthy event has propelled an age of accessible consumer-driven journalism.
The BBC advocates these emerging communication channels and integrated Twitter into its online reporting of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Also, Robert Peston’s BBC blog became a credible source of information for the unfolding ‘credit crunch'. Other media heavyweights can only follow suit and embrace new media channels in order to attain maximum audience reach.
This does raise the question, to what extent are these new channels going to become the norm? Currently, event-based reporting leverages the viral nature of social networking, and the popularity of social networking providers (e.g. Twitter) piggy-back off of this, but will social networking ever take over traditional media channels?
RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: 2008-2009 mobile trends
Cx3 blog entry: BBC sports Olympic map Twitters for gold
Cx3 blog entry: iPhone driving growth in mobile internet usage behaviour
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