Monthly Archives: February 2012

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.