Google+: Facebook Adversary, or Flash in the Pan?

With 1.8 million visits in less than a month since it’s beta release, Google+ is hardly busting down Facebook’s doors. In fact, those visits only represent less than 0.5% of Facebook’s traffic during the same time frame. So when and why should marketers start paying attention to it? The answer to the first question is now. Why? Because it’s growing. It’s important to understand that even though it’s only reached a small percent of Facebook’s traffic, that it is still in beta testing, and only reachable via invite. Once the general population gains access, site traffic can only go up. Marketers need to fish where the fish are, and if consumers are migrating over to Google+ (which they may very well do so, as it’s billed as being a much easier platform for users to share content), then it would be wise to start exploring now.

It will be interesting to see how much traction Google+ gains, especially once released into the wild. We should start paying attention now. We know Facebook will be.


Have you started playing with Google+ yet?

OMMA Metrics: Are the tools that we have for measuring Social Media adequate?

The resounding answer was "NO!!" at this afternoon's panel discussion on "The Social Media Measurement Quagmire Continues..."

Shiv Singh from Razorfish describes the core challenges as follows:
- Access to data (whether it be because of infrastructure or platform)
- Change in the digital (specifically social media) space is happening so fast that the investments in developing measurement tools are slow (slow to commit)
- Shortcomings on everyone's end in terms of too many people trying to apply traditional metrics/measurements to the online and social media space.

The bottom line is that not all users are equal, and the current tools are user agnostic - in other words, the tools treat all users equally. And we all know they are not.

So what to do? Until there are standards for online metrics, a hybrid approach of automated and human measurement systems is critical to and the key to success.

Are “Social Norms” to Blame?

From being an exclusive “college” network to letting the whole world in, Facebook has evolved astronomically these last few years. I remember looking back on my own experience and thinking, “What’s gonna happen to my profile when I graduate?” Well, I now have my answer, obviously.

But in the midst of this grand evolution, there still has to be some element of privacy. (Facebook recently amended its privacy settings.) We all know that Facebook has made once private information available to the public in recent months. Is Mark Zuckerberg’s argument that the ever-changing “social norms” of society are to blame, convincing enough? The author of this article doesn’t seem to think so; in fact, he believes that Zuckerberg is deviating from his past beliefs:

“I don't buy Zuckerberg's argument that Facebook is now only reflecting the changes that society is undergoing… ‘Privacy control, he told me less than 2 years ago, is "the vector around which Facebook operates” .’

However, Zuckerberg makes a good point: “"We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect what the current social norms are.”

I personally think the term “social norms” is a bit dated for this argument, but that’s a whole other discussion.

I can see both sides of the story. But either way, just have common sense. Figure out Facebook’s privacy settings. Don’t post stuff you wouldn’t want your grandmother or her Bingo friends to see.

Social media - the newest tool for social change

Non-profits are tackling the social web, but haven't had quite the attention as big businesses and brands. A report issued this summer from Dartmouth indicated the nation’s largest non-profits have outpaced corporations in adopting social media. And the Center for Marketing Research noted (and not a surprise) that the Fortune 500 and the Inc. 500 have increased their social presence but charities are continuing to lead in usage.

Social media is the newest tool in social change. Non-profits have it an efficient way of reaching a large audience of like-minded, cause conscious individuals, vocal individuals.

For companies and brands with strong philanthropic ties, social will prove to be an invaluable vehicle.

The Dartmouth study:
http://sncr.org/2009/06/28/nonprofit-organizations-lead-the-way-in-social-media-adoption-according-to-society-for-new-communications-research-chair-dr-nora-ganim-barnes-and-eric-mattson-of-financial-insite/

From a funnel to a circle???

For a long time marketers have relied on the age-old model of a purchase funnel as the cycle that consumers move through in making purchase decisions. From Awareness, Consideration, Preference to Loyalty. This model made sense when consumers played a more passive role (presumably) where they received messages pushed to them by marketers. For those of us in marketing roles we know that has changed - where consumers are not only actively seeking information but in many cases serving a role to create it and act as influencers. The question now is how to marketers adapt to this change?

In a study published by McKinsley Quarterly in June of this year titled "The consumer decision journey" a new model is proposed suggesting that instead of a funnel where consumers have more brands at the top and slowly narrow their selection - that they now start with a few, then move to active information gathering where they greatly expand the number of brands and then ultimately make their decision at the point of purchase. Essentially moving from a funnel to a circular approach.



What's driven this paradigm shift? The leading cause is technology (dare we say web 2.0 - I swore I wouldn't use that term ever again!). With consumers ability to connect, share and be more vocal to other consumers and brands technology has greatly impacted the way they make purchase decisions. As a result, marketers are trying to figure out how to engage in this new world. Be sure to read more for yourself at www.mckinseyquarterly.com.

Twitering

As marketers and brands are still looking for ways to effectively utilize Facebook, another social network is taking hold in a big way. It’s Twitter. You’ve seen it in the newspapers, you’ve heard people talking about it and even the evening news is feeding parts of their discussions by utilizing Twitter.

For a brand it can be a bit overwhelming, Twittering, tweeple, tweets, what is a brand to do? It’s intriguing though; there is a lure here for many marketers and brands alike. Think about how amazing is it for a brand to have all these followers that hang on every word said? How could you go wrong?

Well, the answer is not that black and white. The big question you face is, does your brand need an active and daily dialogue with customers? Does it have enough to say on a regular basis? Can your brand even support that sort of dialogue and is it in your brands nature to do so? Twitter is not the equivalent of a dry corporate website it is VERY different. Twitter has the potential to be a lot more personal if used correctly.

Brands that have spent a lot of time successfully developing their brand personality certainly may have an easier time at it. Look at Jet Blue with 240,000+ followers. This brand dialogue didn’t start on Twitter, Jet blue simply uses Twitter as another natural extension of their brand and customers are eating it up. For the right brand under the right circumstances Twitter is a low cost way to communicate effectively. Indeed, there is massive potential to build brand equity and to keep fans and followers informed, but choose wisely and understand the hills and valleys before you start tweeting.

Skittles.com : Interesting take on information architecture

Skittles.com has a new online experience to check out.  This is the 2nd time i've personally seen this type of information design in place, the other time i saw this was on Modernista's web site. I guess imitation is the best form of flattery.  In short it's using social sites on the web to host their content. So friends of Skittles are on Facebook, videos are on YouTube. The main page their navigation sits on is Twitter. It's pulling in everyone who's talking about Skittles, which is pretty cool. Products are hosted on Wikipedia.   This is still an interesting approach.  Outside of this you can't help but realize that there are many ways for a brand to utilize social sites (Other than the obvious ways) and utilize their benefits.

it's about time

Finally, Facebook will be undergoing "drastic" changes in the next month or so. To quote this article, "Profile pages are getting a total makeover." It looks like the clutter is being put where it belongs: in FOUR separate tabs. The idea is to clean up and simplify users' profiles, allowing for more control (something of which Facebookers were likely fearing loss).

And we all know what this means: those not-relevant-to-life, malfunctioning, annoying applications will become...LESS visible! (They will reside in their own tab.) It's believed that the more "meaningful" applications will shine brighter under the spotlight (ala the new-and-improved mini-feed feature).

I truly hope these changes bring about nothing but success. The clutter, similar to many tacky (to say the least) MySpace profiles, is soon to incur the wrath of...organization? What a concept!

And as a reminder, MySpace is precisely what I moved AWAY from.

Social Design Best Practices - OpenSocial - Google Code

Article has 9 good best practice principles for developing social applications:

If you're new to developing social applications, it can be difficult to immediately grasp how good
applications facilitate fun and meaningful social experiences. To accelerate your learning, we've come up with a list of a few light-hearted recommendations around building good social applications. Not all of these "best practices" are necessary in every case, but they might spark thoughts about finding new users, keeping old ones, and leveraging the social graph for fresh content and viral spread.....

Social Design Best Practices - OpenSocial - Google Code

New Facebook Chat: A Blessing or Annoyance?

There's AIM, MSN, iChat, Adium, Google Chat, and now...Facebook Chat? (Oh, I guess I should include MySpace chat, too.) The world's largest social networking site will stop at nothing! Conveniently, no buddy list is needed since users already have friends' lists from which to pick and choose who they'll converse with. Another difference: the mini-feeds will display in the chat windows so users can see who's been up to what and where and when!

A grad student seems to think, ""[Facebook Chat] looks like it's going to be an interesting and useful feature...My bet is that this will surpass [Google's] GChat as No. 2 behind AIM, because it's so universally used and logged into."

While that may be true, it can also pose as an annoyance. Yet another window to keep open! According to a computer programmer, "Not only do I need to keep each of the IM programs open now, but I also need to keep a copy of Gmail open in my browser, and now a copy of Facebook open in my browser...It's not like I need five different e-mail programs open to e-mail five different people."

Personally, I'm a fan of the clean, Google approach to chatting. I think I'll stick to it. My beloved Facebook has become such a smorgasbord of "impressive" eye candy over the past several months. Thus, yet another feature doesn't seem so appealing anymore.

No Brand Can Ignore The Social World

Forrester reports, "Mazda And Honda Have The Most Active Customers; GMC And Mercury The Least". Here's the topline executive summary.

"Car owners have widely different affinities for social applications. Mazda, Honda, Pontiac, Hyundai, and Jeep have the most active customers; Ford, Nissan, Chevrolet, GMC, and Mercury have the least. Car brands should use these tendencies to plan strategy. For example, Honda owners are the most likely to react to online content, which the company could exploit with consumer ratings. No brand can ignore the social world; even among Mercury owners, the least active, half are connecting with social media."

JetBlue "Gets It"

JetBlue has long been the poster child of how to do a ticket-less, web-based airline the right way. From the point of purchase at the website, to the terminal, to the on-flight experience; I've always been a fond admirer of their marketing.

In accordance with their strong online presence, JetBlue was an early adopter of Twitter. Yesterday, a recent post alerted travelers to potential delays from the poor weather in NY. Last month, a simple shout-out was given to the 2,000 JetBlue travelers that flew to Austin for SXSW.

The thing that separates them from a lot of other corporate initiatives on Twitter is that - along with typical promotional Tweets - they encourage direct dialog with users. Questions from users are answered, and questions to the user are presented. This active engagement encourages the user to provide valuable feedback and feel valued for being listened to.

A prime example of good social media utilization, indeed.