The Second Screen Experience.

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Before I get started, here are some key points to take into consideration before I start explaining the potential in creating a Second Screen Experience.

– Massive adoption of Mobile Media (Smartphones/Tablets). More online/digital activity via mobile device, especially in developed markets. However in the developing world, its important because its the first time their being connected with the interactive space.

– In the US, over 50% of mobile users are smartphones. For ages 25-34, 4 out of every 5 phones sold is a smartphone. For advertising companies this is going to become a main channel.

– The Second Screen Experience: Approximately 80% of individuals who have tablets, spend significant amount of time in front of TV on their lap.

– Most of the focus of the 2nd Screen Experience is on the content. A lot of broadcasters are developing mobile apps to sync up their content.

With those points in mind here’s where I believe theirs untapped potential. There’s a potential to create a 360 degree type of experience that fully engages and interacts with the user at all points. A tablet would allow for the user to easily chat with others about what’s currently happening on the show (yes that’s being done, but not effectively), creating a much more social experience, allowing the user to customize or vote for the ending of the show, show trending topics related to the topic, or create an even more in-depth user experience through a viral portal.


Social Media is Commitment, Not A Campaign

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Crafting a Social Media strategy is all about the right mindset. You can’t get expect to hack it with a four week blitz. You’re in it for the long haul, which also means you can’t expect to see an results in the first week.

Social Media’s all about creating an experience around your brand, and creating a two way flow of conversation (relationship marketing) that allows you to interact and learn from your consumer. Below’s some tips from DreamGrow on crafting a Social Media Strategy:

1. What Do You Do?

Describe what your company does in a single sentence. Make it Understandable to a 5 year old.

2. Listen to the Conversations

conversation How to Create Your Social Media Strategy?

Now that you know what you are doing find out who’s talking about it. Find all the conversations that mention your brand directly or related to you in general.

3. Set a Goal

Why are you doing it? In the end you have to produce results and this is where you should write it down. In the beginning select just one and build your strategy to achieve that.

What gets measured gets done! Put a number on your goal.

4. Find Influencers and Communities

Go over the results you got from listening to the conversations and find who are talking about your brand. Who are having a following that might include you clients or prospects. Are there advocates who are really into your brand? Select the ones that you feel are the best match for your business and start monitoring them.

5. Who is Your Audience?

audience How to Create Your Social Media Strategy?

Select the target group that is most likely to be persuaded by your message.  Who are the people who have most to gain by what do you do (step 1). Don’t try to please everyone at the same time with the same message.

One important thing to remember is the 1-9-90 rule. Only about 1 percent of people participate actively, 9 percent comment and interact occasionally and 90% are lurkers who do not contribute anything to the conversations.

Remember What Got You Here

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“I wish Google cared as much about improving search as they do about being afraid of Facebook. Longer post coming. We need better search.” – Michael Arrington

This recent tweet by TechCrunch founder got me thinking about the very first blog I posted on about the battle (or lack their of), between Google+ and Facebook. I get that Google+ got into the social space to try somewhat improve it’s Search, but I think what Arrington is really trying to get at, is that so many companies forget to focus on what got them to where they are now, they began dispersing resources instead of focusing on their core competencies. Google needs to get back to purely developing the services that make them Google.

We see companies lose sight of the bigger picture by reactively responding to competitive threats, and trying to emulate or counter-act the threat by building out similar functionality or products. You have to look no further than Research in Motion, the company who started the BlackBerry Smartphones. In 2008, they were the #1 smartphone manufacturer in North America, and were world-wide renown in the enterprise environment as the best business side-kick. And now at it’s current place its going to be non-existent in 3 or 4 years. Now, I’m not saying you ignore competitors, but you’ve got to pick your uphill battles and sometimes find downhill battles. In RIM’s case, they needed to find their own identity instead of trying to match Apple’s. They became complacent in their position and developed the motto “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”, and in such a fast paced innovative environment thats a sure way to end up on the losing end. RIM needed to focus on making its email client the best on any smartphone. Focus on BBM and how to make that more social and differential. And as a side thought, let’s be honest, the Blackberry Playbook was a pure competitive play against the Ipad, and its going no where fast.

And this thought process can be extended beyond the business world. Miami Heat coach Eric Spoelstra had this to say about Miami’s anticipated re-match against the Dallas Mavericks (who they lost to in the finals).

“You watch our Christmas Day game compared to the last two games, of the force and pace that we played with that day, it’s night-and-day different,” Spoelstra said. “We can control that. We respect the Dallas Mavericks obviously from last year . . . but right now, out of due respect, it’s about us, it’s about getting to our game, our identity.”

Find your Identity. Stick to Your Game. And Remember What Got you Here!

 

The Age of Privacy is Over

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This topic repeatedly finds its way to the top of any conversion when it comes to talking social media and online marketing. People are being tracked every time they’re online and, anything they decide to post on Facebook is sold to marketers for research and consumer behaviour purposes. And then the complaints begin.

“I don’t want Facebook selling my info, or where I’ve been on the web, or where I’m checking into” and personal pet peeve “I hate the New Facebook”. You only hate the new Facebook cause you hate learning a new system, but once you understand why its infinitely better, you’re perfectly cool with it. We’re hypocritical in that sense. We want companies to continually innovate, provide us with the most amazing tools to stay connected, and a user interface thats intuitive and easy to understand. Yet when change comes our way, via a simple new design, we throw our  hands up in the air in outrage.

But maybe that’s straying away from the issue of privacy. So here’s my take on it. Yes privacy is undoubtedly an important issue to keep in mind, but its soon going to be over. I think in the following generation, we’ll no longer hear complaints about where I’m checking into or what websites I’ve been on…because I think outside of jumping on the privacy bandwagon for the sake of it, we all want customization. And we can’t expect customization unless some of our data is shared.

Here’s my question, that no ones really be able to give me a clear answer on – “Whats wrong with having hyper targeted Facebook ad’s that I potentially may be interested in?” I’d be bombarded with ad’s anyways, so why not give me something I may be potentially purchase that’s based on my liked pages/websites.

Yes customization is scary and a tricky concept to grasp…its why MySpace failed (over customization). But the very fact that we’re able to so easily connect with others through social networks, for FREE by the way, we’ve got to understand that they need to have some revenue model to keep them in business and allow us to use their service…for free. Maybe if Facebook explicitly asked us to opt into sharing our data it wouldn’t be such a big deal? Thoughts?

Obviously this issue continues to dive deeper and spark more controversy every time its brought up but I think we’ll soon be at time where we understand that our data being shared isn’t the end of the world and that it in fact is beneficial to our ever hectic lifestyles.

The Problem with Location Based Services

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Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of location based services, and we know consumers are out there and many want you to find them. With the popularity of Foursquare, and recently Path, they’ve become potential goldmines for important consumer data – what they’re day to day activities look like, who they’re with, and where they visit on a regular basis. And yes, there’s still concern around privacy issues, but consumers are still demanding that marketers understand all of their daily contexts to make their lives easier.

However, my main problem with location based services is the very fact they aren’t contextualized and that they’re separate apps rather than a built in feature of a phone. What I mean by contextualized is that the phone should automatically notify me right as things happen, without me taking any actions. Instead of the phone simply being a caddy, it should really do the actions for me…scary but awesome! Here’s just two user scenario I’m thinking of:

“If I’ve got a scheduled meeting at a different location, instead of generic 10 min meeting reminder, it should notify me to leave for 25 minutes ahead due to a traffic accident along my route.”

“If Im at bar or restaurant, again that I’ve decided to let check-me in, it should automatically notify me of others within my social network, who i’ve subscribed too, that are also at that location.”

Secondly, once the privacy issues are dealt with you, you shouldn’t have to manually check-in to anywhere. With the new technology of geo-fencing, I should be able to walk into a location that I’ve opted into, and it should automatically check me in. Yes this requires GPS in your phone to constantly be running in the background, draining the phones battery, but as we continue to make improvements in that area I have no doubt that geo-fencing will be vital to the success of location based services.

Lets go Viral

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With last nights Sasha Baron Cohen Shenanigans going viral last night during the Oscars, and my Facebook wall now continually being filled with over played it got me thinking if there’s any pattern or elements a video/meme needs in order to go viral. On top of that its  important to question why its important for branded videos (i.e. Old Spice) to go viral?  Recent research conducted by Vizu revealed that viral video can be highly effective in driving purchase intent.

Strategically, it obviously makes sense to select a social network where lots of group sharing takes place, such as Facebook or Twitter. But making a video viral is most definitely becoming an art. An art that if mastered has the potential to reach millions of viewers at very little cost.

Videos/memes need to tap into our psychological motivation to share. I think either the video has to connect either emotionally with us (whether it be because it was hilarious or sad), or whether we want others to learn from the video. We’re hardwired to teach and learn, so information thats explained in new or interesting ways is almost guaranteed to be shared. Check out this video – of course it helps if you’ve got A-list celebs in the video 😉

Check out this infographic I found with some great insights into understanding viral content marketing. Its definitely worth the read.

Is the Daily Deal Phenomenon over?

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How many of you are still receiving emails from daily deal sites like Groupon or Social Shopper? For those that still do, are you getting tired of receiving deals for laser hair removal? I don’t need one each week thanks!

When Groupon first game it out, it revolutionized the way users began shopping and it graced the cover of Forbes magazine to become the “fastest growing company…ever!”. But in this new digital age, Groupon and its copy-cats have failed to keep up with  consumer and tech-marketing trends. The biggest one being no customization.

Firstly its emails are not customized to my specific interests and the only setting I can choose to get deals in, is to select which city I’m in, which is by no means targeted marketing. For the most part, a Groupon subscriber in any given city gets the same damn offer as every other Groupon subscriber in that city.

Secondly, its emails have become like direct mail that I will barely open. Groupon blasts its subscribers with irrelevant mail. ie. The time I got an email for Britney Spears Tickets for $25. Great price…but not for me.

Thirdly, companies are realizing that the ROI of running a Groupon is very limited. Its business model was supposed to get customers in the door and then once they’ve tried your product/service, become loyal fans of what you’re offering. Too bad, that only works if you product is amazing in the first place…which in that case, you wouldn’t need to run a promo. Ironic.

So here’s my quick recommendation. Let me choose specific categories I’m interested in (i.e. Sports, health) and then notify me when the stores I most often shop at are running a promo. Let me create a customized newsletter that comes only once a week – it would be awesome if I had a Pinterest like email newsletter that I could quickly scroll through with all the category deals i’ve subscribed too. I guarantee you one thing, I’ve got enough laser hair removal to last a lifetime so you won’t find that on my board :p


 

It’s About Time…or is it?

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For the first time in 2012, Online Ad spending will surpass Print Ad’s. Check out the original post on Mashable:

“According to a study released Thursday by eMarketer, online advertising is expected to generate $39.5 billion in sales this year — a 23.3% increase from 2011 — compared to a sum of $33.8 billion on print.”

But it’s somewhat surprising that it took this long for this trend to actually take place. I recently attended a marketing conference, and one of the speakers was giving examples of their magazine advertisements. While I still think Print can be somewhat effective, I prompted the question, “Will there always be a place for newspapers or magazines or will do you think everything will become digital?”

He’s response: “I think even though we’re seeing print advertising on the decline, the habit of picking up and reading a newspaper will never grow old”. I somewhat agree, however,  as our younger generation continues to be infiltrated with digital devices and starts to get their news from social media instead, print will eventually be completely filtered out. I know that for myself and friends, that twitter has now become my primary news for global events and trends.

It will be interesting if advertisers can still find a niche for print advertising that’s untapped. Who know’s, maybe we’ll get tired of staring at screens and TV, tired of watching flashy (sometimes obnoxious) digital ads, and revert back to the quiet simplicity of reading a newspaper.

Thoughts?

No More Excuses

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Seriously…is there any excuse for poorly designed website anymore? Over the past week, I’ve found myself continually frustrated with the design on websites (specifically that of restaurants). There’s not thought and text has just been thrown in front of me hoping that I’ll read the long winded essay before hitting that oh so tempting back button. It’s safe to say that the internet is the number one stop for consumers to research options and make their decisions. And that decision can easily be altered by a poorly designed website….even if I’ve heard great things about the product or service. If you aren’t displaying your pictures with your menu, promotions, contact info (all reasonably simple things to ask for) and I can’t even find pictures of what I can expect when I step through the front door of your restaurant, you’ve lost me.

Cash might be your only excuse now. Why’s that? Because there are an abundant of internet tools that make life so much easier on the website creator (and for very affordable prices). Most of them require very little coding and allow for very cool customization features if you’re willing to throw in a little more money.

Check out some of these great tools:

1) happytables: Hello any restaurant’s saviour!

2) unbounce: Great for creating landing pages and promo’s

3) TeamTreehouse: If you want to learn website design and coding.

 

Let me know if there’s any other tools you would use!

Is Google+ still a threat to Facebook? Wrong Question.

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Analysts predict that Google+ will have hit 100 million users sometime this month, and reach 400 million by years end. Thats half of Facebook’s current user base.

After failing to enter the market with services like Google Buzz and Google Wave, Google set out to make connecting on the web more like connecting in the real world. With new and differentiated social tools such as hangouts, circles, and sparks, Google+ quickly gained recognition from the online technology community as the first social network that could challenge Facebook’s dominant market position. And by July 24, 2011, Google had already hit 25 million users making it the fastest growing social network to date.

However, despite the rapid growth, Google+ is now criticized for its inability to sustain the expansion and convert adopters into active users. Statistics from a Bime Analytics report published on August 19 indicated that only 17% of users actually use the service daily. With all the different opinions out there, the debate still rages whether Google+ is challenging Facebook’s position within the market. But I read an articlein November,by Pete Cashmore (founder of Mashable) and I think he sums it up best. We’re asking the wrong question. He explains:

“Google didn’t promote Google+ as a “Facebook killer,” however. Far from it. The real value of Google+ is a very small feature indeed: The +1 button. This little widget — Google’s answer to the Facebook Like button — is an acknowledgment that links are no longer the only way to rank websites. Instead, people are increasingly discovering content through their friends on social networks. For Google, a company that ranks Web content based on the links between pages, that’s a very scary change that undermines the organization’s core search-engine service.”

So as Cashmore states “Can Google+ beat Facebook? I think the better question might be “Is Google better off with Google+?”

And I agree, the answer is definitely yes.