After an action packed day of eating turkey and watching football, Americans have officially kicked off the Christmas shopping season with another bang. Although, perhaps this year it’s more of a spray.
That’s right, this year’s Black Friday was as crazy as ever with zombified shoppers setting up tents days in advance of the midnight openings that many retailers advertised. Unlike last year, no one was trampled to death. No, this year was much more subdued with only two peppersprayings, two taserings, a stabbing, shots being fired, and countless fist fights.
Clearly, Black Friday shopping is a contact sport and not to be taken lightly.
While nowhere near the entertainment value, this Black Friday has been interesting when it comes to online retail with IBM Coremetrics claiming a 24.3% increase in online sales for Black Friday over last year. Additionally, Paypal has reported a 500% increase in mobile online shopping alone.
While many, quite rightly, continue to debate the ROI of social media, I believe that the numbers from Black Friday are telling. We may not have an accurate measure of what a Facebook ‘Like’ is worth to a brand, but social media has unquestionably changed the way we shop. Online word-of-mouth and social networking are hugely important in today’s online retail world and are effectively changing the way we shop, both on and offline.
I just read an article about our changing habits around social media in the work place and how it affects productivity.
The article is based on a recent study by Pierre Khawand of over a thousand business professionals and their habits and behaviours around social media in the work place.
His study shows that people in the workplace are having to manage more and more inboxes than ever.
While personal and corporate email are checked regularly at work by about 90% of all business professionals, social media use is on the rise.
As for SM, Facebook is checked most regularly during the work day by almost 60% of respondents.
And it’s not just the grunts that are whittling away their work days either. Even senior executives can’t resist, with over 50% checking Facebook on a regular basis
The study also points out that employees estimate they spend 50% of their workday managing multiple inboxes.
Perhaps more telling is that reportedly 2/3 of employees interrupt their work more often than they’d like (42.6%) or constantly (23.2%) to check their inboxes.
This is not good for productivity.
We constantly hear about the benefits of social media and how it’s changing the way we live, work and interact, but is it really making us more productive?
What is clear is the multitasking is very rarely successful and often leads to lowered productivity. My concern with the increase in social media and the push to adopt more and more social networks is the effect it has on my ability to get anything done.
Social media has increased communication to the point where it is difficult to get anything else done.
If YouTube likes and dislikes are anything to go off of, just about all of us (134,482 likes to 2,448 dislikes) loved the campaign that Proctor & Gamble ran in order to re-establish the Old Spice brand.
With the initial commercial having been seen over 32 million times on YouTube, the campaign no longer needs an introduction nor does its star, Isaiah Mustafa.
Wieden + Kennedy were able to produce a terrifically fun commercial, but the real genius of this campaign and what drove it to such heights was it’s intimate understanding of social media and the power of the interactive community that the internet has become.
Alone, the 30 second spots that aired on television desired recognition on their own, but it was the interactive community that developed around the nearly 200 short videos that were generated in response to YouTube viewers’ questions and comments.
Okay, I’ll admit it: I love Christmas. Always ready to begin celebrating the season, my curious and now analytical (thanks MBA) mind turned to the use of social media and online marketing to drive Christmas shopping. How are social media and online marketing impacting the Christmas shopping season?
Well, it didn’t take much googling to come up with an example and get introduced to Target’s Christmas Champ. Apparently already in her third season, the Christmas Champ is back and ready to take Christmas shopping to the next level. Played by comedian Maria Bamford and developed by Target’s creative agency, the ever impressive, Wieden + Kennedy, the Christmas Champ is a Target super shopper who is in constant preparation for Target’s Annual 2 Day Sale.
Target’s 2 Day Sale starts on Black Friday and this year begins at 12am. For those that don’t know, Black Friday is the day after American Thanksgiving and marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the US.
Ad Age reports that the campaign involves five broadcast spots, five digital spots, and more than twenty more pieces of online content.
Why I really like this campaign is because it is an excellent example of using social media to personalize a big brand. Wieden + Kennedy are no strangers to this strategy after their success with the Old Spice “Man Your Man Could Smell Like”.
The Christmas Champ is quirky and approachable, and although extreme, an identifiable segment of the population. Everybody knows someone like her that really excited about Christmas shopping. That people love her and identify with her is evidenced by the number of Facebook fan pages and parody videos on YouTube that have been posted.
Further demonstrating Target’s understanding of social media is the Christmas Champ’s personal online presence. Starting on November 4th, the Christmas Champ has been tweeting hard, answering questions, and interacting with other users. So far she has over 8,600 followers.
All in all, I think she’s great and that this is a terrific campaign. Long live the Christmas Champ.
Just read a good little article on Mashable about brands, fans, and the need for real interaction between the two.
I couldn’t agree more.
In “Why Brands Need Friends Not Fans”, Clyde McKendrick argues that despite Facebook and other social media platforms offering brands unparalleled access and opportunity for engagement to consumers at very little cost, most companies are not engaging their fans on a personal level. Instead of developing forward thinking strategies that deepen the consumer relationship, many brands have entered into single dimension popularity contests. Whoever has the most fans wins.
Despite accumulating huge fan followings, many brands have failed at engaging their fans on a personal level, suggesting brands are still using social media as a platform for pushing their message at consumers. As the title suggests, McKendrick argues that brands don’t need fans, the need friends. Brands need to engage their followers in the same way that friends communicate with each other over Facebook. Chat, respond, post relevant content!
What I really like about this article and where I think McKendrick hits the nail on the head is the idea of brands needing to adopt a collaborative social media strategy by working with followers and fans to create mutual value for the two parties.
There are a number of benefits:
By identifying active, influential fans and collaborating with them brands are able to build relationships that get talked about and that people want to be a part of.
Empowering brand ambassadors allows companies to take a hands-off approach to brand building, allowing third party individuals to spread the word and develop strong word-of-mouth.
By engaging with fans and followers, the brand is able to develop a personality and provide a human aspect to the business. This is a plus for any firm, but I believe there is another advantage as well. Acting more like a friend and less like a money hungry corporation will allow brands to gain even better information on their followers. People are more willing to open up and give real feedback if they feel they can trust the brand.
In conclusion, while he was not the first, I think McKendrick is making a really important point about Facebook and social media engagement: be a friend, interact with your fans, provide value to them, and create value with them. This engagement will inevitably deepen the experience and be more rewarding for both parties.
“For brewers that often claim to have sociability at their very heart, the lack of engagement in social media by the world’s biggest and most popular brands is staggeringly short sighted.”
Source: “A Missed Opportunity”, Pete Brown, Brewers’ Guardian, January/February 2011
For those who know my past work experience and track record of project work throughout the MBA, it will come as no surprise that the topic of my article review is, surprise, beer related!
As with many product and service categories, the brewing industry is all atwitter with social media. Marketing editor, Pete Brown, of the stereotypically named Brewers’ Guardian (one of my favourite publications) argues that there are those who get it and those who do not.
Here’s what he said….
Those that get it are the small breweries that engage their followers and fans on a personal basis through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. Those that don’t get it are, not surprisingly, the large brewers who appear to be ignoring the opportunity to engage their fans on a person-to-person level.
In his article “A Missed Opportunity”, Brown begins by asking the reader to imagine a place where marketers could actively engage “opinion-leading consumers of their brands” who can quickly and effectively spread their enthusiasm to their friends, family, and anyone else listening.
Welcome to the internets. Welcome to social media.
Brown goes on to suggest that despite this perfect opportunity, the large players in the brewing industry, the ones with the resources, have ignored social media and social networks, paying them only the thinnest of lip service. He further notes that despite their image of sociability and community, the big boys have neglected to engage in real time interaction with their followers and brand ambassadors.
Here’s what I agree with…
Brown argues that social media is not going anywhere and I agree. Increasingly, consumers are turning to social media and networks for information, opinions, and reviews. Moving forward, businesses regardless of the industry must have a firm understanding of the ins and outs of how social media can affect business.
He is correct that, for the most part, large brewers have neglected social networks and the opportunity to engage their consumers in conversation. Far too often, company Facebook pages are used to push advertisements and promotions without listening to what their followers are saying. Cliché as it is, it takes two to tango and large brewers around the world have been trying to dance with two left feet.
While small craft brewers are able to engage their consumers personally on a daily basis, large brewers have failed at engaging their consumers or spurring conversation.
Furthermore he points out that the excuse that large brewers simply do not need social media does not hold water. Taking the soft drinks industry for instance, Brown points out that many brands have established a strong presence in social media and are actively engaging their consumers. Coca-Cola should be highlighted here for making a Facebook page started by two genuine fans their official Facebook page and leaving the two founders in charge.
Issues with the Article….
By and large I agree with the article almost entirely. What I think Brown neglects to mention is the efforts that some large brands are putting into releasing creative online advertising and their success in creating viral videos.
Heineken, Carlsberg, and Dos Equis have all had strong success with creating well received and circulated online advertising. The “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign was an excellent example of a campaign that aired on television, but was developed much more deeply online. Both Heineken and Carlsberg have also had success with developing intriguing experiments that could only be executed online.
Admittedly, this type of communication is not conversational in the same way that Facebook and Twitter interactions are, but it does demonstrate an understanding of the potential of social media. By creating enthralling media that is not restricted by the conventions of television, these brewing companies have been able to stimulate conversation about their brands and maintain “top of mind” through viral video.
benvanhee