360DigitalInfluence

The web is continuously sprawling with vast amounts of content, and the time needed from users to consume what’s relevant of it is shrinking by the minute. From web to mobile (and now tablets, ie..IPad), the digital attention span is at an all time low.

Switching between devices and platforms is becoming a bit overwhelming in helping users get the content they need. However, there is a bigger headache brought about by the basic foundation that paved the way for all of today’s innovative online offerings: Web Browsing.

Web browsing habits today are significantly affecting how users absorb and internalize online content, mainly because their declining digital attention span is forcing them to open multiple browser tabs.

Studies are now showing that since browsers have started supporting tabbed browsing, users have paid less and less attention to the content being offered on web pages.

Early this year, Jeff Huang, an information scientist at the University of Washington, studied the behavior of 50 millions web surfers and habits regarding tabbed browsing(on 60 billion pages). Here are some of his interesting findings:

•         Tabbed browsing occurs 85% during browsing time

•         Users switch tabs at least 57.4% of the browsing time, meaning parallel browsing is more common than linear browsing

•         Most web surfers do not create tabs (branch out) from search engine result pages, but more from non-navigational queries

•         Using multiple windows and tabs was a key strategy in engaging elsewhere while one page was loading

•         5-10 page views per tab are common, meaning users often visit a handful of pages in each tab.

•         Tabs do not result in users viewing more pages; it simply leads to multitasking

•         In activities engaged online, web search is a close second in popularity behind email

•         Below are “interesting” search queries that most and least result in tabbing (branching)

His research findings are great because they allow digital media agencies to ask the following web usability questions:

How are tabs being used?

•          Act as reminders

•          Allow people to multitask

•          Useful for comparison

•          Act as bookmarks

•          Used significantly instead of the back button.

What could this affect?

•          Time spent on a page/site

•          Activity carried out on the website

•          Visitor Intent and relevant course of action

What does this mean for Web Designers/Developers?

1.      Try to get your content across to the user in the least amount of time…make it as straight forward as possible

2.      Design pages easy enough for a 8 year old to understand

3.      Don’t expect users to stay on your site/page longer than 10 seconds. Expect the users intention to be: “Get the info I need in the shortest possible time” (check site web analytics for trends/habits)

4.      Include simple courses of action for the user to take within the page (ie..click here to..)

5.      Easy to access navigational features on every page are essential

What does this mean for Digital Creatives?

1.      If the fusion of beauty, brand, and style do not support the page’s content, users will probably leave the site

2.      Users will hardly ever give your page their full undivided attention

3.      Think of your page as a “reminder” for the user to access later, so dont put all your brilliant creative work in just the first few seconds of an animated page.

4.      If the creative images and animations are big…meaning heavy to load, good chance users will switch tabs and forget your page

There are some companies that are still unable to understand the true value of social media for their business. Now there is a better way to convince them, in a language they understand: ROI.

A recent study (pdf), conducted and published by Syncapse, examines social media in terms of ROI.  It does this by quantifying and understanding the impact of social media marketing investment on the top 20 brands on Facebook. The findings were pretty interesting.

This is particularity important, because quantifying the ROI of Facebook marketing efforts might change how we present social media as a marketing strategy to our clients.

The study examined the five leading contributors to Facebook fan value.

(1) Product Spending (2) Brand Loyalty (3) Propensity to Recommend (4) Brand Affinity (5) Earned Media Value.

Significant Findings:

ROI:

· Fans spend an additional average of $71.84 on products for which they are fans compared to those who are not fans.

· The average value of a Facebook fan was $136.38. On a McDonald’s fan base of 2,232,328, the worth of annualized value would equate to $580,003,461.

· No two brand’s fan values are the same: Fan value of BlackBerry ($83.98) versus Nokia ($180.87).

Repurchase

· Fans are 28% more likely than non-fans to continue using the brand

· 42.5% of fans indicating a heightened likelihood of continued product usage

Loyalty

· 81% of fans said they feel connection/empathy with the brand, compared to 39% of non-fans

· 87% said they felt warmth, gratitude, happy or satisfied, compared to 49% of non-fans

Word of Mouth:

· Fans are 41% more likely than non-fans to recommend a fanned product to their friends

· 44% Likelihood to try a product if close family member or friend became a fan

· 68% of Facebook fans indicated that they are very likely to recommend a product (One of the highest was Victoria’s Secret with 79.4%)

Shaping Fan Value:

· Factors influencing and impacting fan value include: Product price, purchase lifecycle, sales penetration, brand health, product health, Facebook marketing success, loyalty, spending, fan acquisition cost, affinity and media value.

Key Takeaways for Digital Marketers and Their Clients:

· Frame It In $$: More and more, we should present social media marketing to clients in terms of ROI, ##’s and $$. This allows us to demonstrate the power of this marketing platform in a business language most can understand.  It also portrays social media in a context that makes good financial sense. “Social media can make you money”

· Digital Deep Dive: This study, along with specific case studies should act as a digital gateway, by helping us in convincing clients to dive deep into social media strategies and allocate a bigger budget for social marketing.

· Act Now, Look Later: Social media marketing is a long-term process which aims at building networks of loyal and brand hungry consumers.  It might be comprised of various short-term campaigns, but brands must have a long-term view of social ROI

· Online Efforts Boost Offline Sales: The 20 brands examined in this study rely on offline sales to succeed. They use social media to drive offline traffic into their stores.

· Social Actually Works: The more you reach, connect, and effectively engage audiences on social media, the more you increase:

1. Long-term ROI

2. Brand perception and awareness

3. Brand loyalty, connection & repeated purchases

4. Organic marketing (facilitated online word of mouth)

· Ask Why?:  Finally, we should be able to easily explain to clients that “There is a reason why these big brands are pouring millions in social media, and moving away from traditional media:”

1. Cheaper and more effective than most mass media marketing

2. More targeted and audience specific

3. Generates added brand empathy and connection with consumers

4. Provides consumers access to the brand, anytime, anywhere and at their fingertips

5. Allows consumers to market & recommend brand products themselves

6. Timely and compelling, moves consumers to take action

7. Allows consumers to engage with brands in a FUN WAY (and not interruptive)

Connect with Haysam on Twitter: @hisom

This viral video has been viewed 1,038,068 times on Youku [Update: Since I accidently left this post in the draft folder, the view count has gone up to almost 3 million]. It was uploaded just one day ago:

I’m pretty sure this viral is an ad for Peugeot: Why would such an event be caught on camera – and in HD? Why does the driver leave her car roof open? Why do the hushed voices mention the exact model of the car? I could go on.

This is not the first car-related viral to get a huge view count in China: a clip where a woman forces her husband to buy her a Buick now has 3,984,556 views. Similarly, a video of a Chevrolet towing away a tow truck has been viewed 1,384,215 times.

Granted, these ads — if that’s what they are — create buzz; in turn, discussion as to their authenticity creates further buzz. Such ads can also be memorable ways to communicate a car’s features: in this case, it is the Peugeot’s automatic fold-away roof.

Yet the response from viewers is often negative: a large amount of the comments simply say “fake” or “ad”; many give reasons for their suspicion. In my opinion, associating “fake” with a brand in this way is not a good way to build the trust necessary to persuade someone to buy a car.

I’d really like to know what others think about this kind of video? Are they ever a good idea?

By now, almost all the western world — and a good chunk of Asia and Africa — have all heard of Apple’s latest breakthrough product, the iPad.

The sheer number of impressions this launch has generated is in itself impressive. But what is even more impressive is the use of early adopters and key influentials to drive the story, enthusiasm, excitement and buzz for Apple, not the company itself.

Remember that Apple is not a company that is that into social media, yet check out the Twitter hashtag #ipad and end user blogs to get a sense for the mountain of coverage and interest generated for the iPad.

How does it do this? Good old-fashioned smart PR and a communications strategy that relies on the magnification effect of early adopters and influentials to amplify launch noise via traditional PR, Word of Mouth (WoM) buzz and aspirational excitement.

Here’s some of the ground rules:

1. Carefully pick and choose your hero product(s) for the year and put as much wood behind these arrows as you can. The iPad was THE launch of 2010 for Apple. The company maintains ongoing influencer relations, a thorough reviewer’s program, and ongoing engagement for other products, like their laptops, iPods, etc., but the focus was iPad and later this year iPhone OS version 4.0. That’s it. Laser-like focus, picking and backing your product bets, not spreading the wealth across a wide product range that all cry out for PR support, even though they may be close to end-of-life (EOL) and have reached the downward side of the S-curve. The other products bask in the halo of the hero products. See what the iPod did for Macintosh sales post launch? See what the iPhone has done for iPad sales?

2. Focus on long term influencer and early adopter relations and engagement. These are your natural allies. Cultivate them, let them talk for you because they ultimately carry far more weight and credibility than your own Press Releases, blog posts or advertising. Engage with not just technology influencers, but with business, social and celebrity folk that give you brand cache and style. It’s no accident that Stephen Fry is an Apple fan boy, so is half of Hollywood, thanks to decades of engagement with product placement on set and off set, with the stars themselves. Every episode of Seinfeld has a Macintosh and a small statuette of Superman in the background. Check it out next time re-run comes on. At one point, Jerry Seinfeld had a Mac too (and probably still does even though he did ads with Bill Gates last year).

So how does this translate into the iPad launch? How do these uber-strategies map with launch tactics? Well, here’s a synopsis:

The iPad launched officially on April 1, but embargoes were set for March 31. This means a wave of launch buzz and hype 24 hours prior to people being able to buy one (not counting the rumours and speculation in the prior nine months).

Key influencers were seeded with Product Verification & Testing (PVT) units three to four months out in some cases, depending on when these units were deemed stable enough and of sufficient quality to pass muster for people that will forgive non-production machine foibles because they love the technology and because they consider themselves Apple-insiders. These units went to key Apple business partners/friends (remember Google CEO Eric Schmidt got a pre-production iPhone and not so surreptitiously flashed it at Davos, where it stole the headlines rather than dry economic prognostications?), celebrities, technology gurus, etc. Also note that they all honoured the strict Apple NDAs — no insider wants to be ostracized and get thrown out of the club.

Journos/key bloggers in the US (a very select few, high impact folks) had their iPads under NDA for a week prior to launch, enough for them to play and enjoy, but not enough time for them to be too heavily critical. Launch reviews reflect that and it’s commonsense when you think about it. The shine always rubs off the shiny new toy the longer you have it. This early enthusiasm sets the tone for the launch coverage, providing the initial launch gestalt.

Celebrity Twitter-ers helped fuel the social media buzz. Stephen Fry was on the US West Coast at launch (funny how that happened) and put up video of the un-boxing of his iPad. He openly Tweeted he had one a day prior to the rest of the population. Robert Scoble did the same thing, except for the video of the unboxing (he later went out and bought two more iPads because his family kept hijacking his — and Tweeted about it). Reviews popped up the day before the official launch by Walt Mossberg and David Pogue in the US — two of the most highly respected tech journos in the country. Surgical media placement and engagement for maximum impact rather than a broad ‘hit as many as you can’ approach most companies take.

Foreign (that is, non-US) media got flown to a glitzy New York event and even if there was no pricing for their markets, they got to play with units at launch in salubrious surroundings and with high profile Apple execs. They in turn also had the opportunity if they were keen enough to buy their own units in the US, which judging by the coverage, a good few did, thereby continuing the buzz momentum.

And the result is, as you can see, a wave of initial great coverage that drives WoM, then sales and sets the tone.

More importantly its a self-reinforcing cycle of clever, surgical market engagement that fuels Apple’s mystique as a cult rather than as a technology company.

And the interesting thing is that other companies with ‘insanely’ great products could be doing the same to build their own mystique and stories. Mass communications doesn’t have to be massive, just smart.

Postscript: The iPhone OS 4.0 was announced a few days ago. Only Apple developers are supposed to have the beta code for testing. Stephen Fry, who last time I checked can’t cut a line of code, Tweeted yesterday that he had just installed it on his 3G iPhone. General availability for the masses is not expected until the northern hemisphere summer/autumn (fall).

Thanks very much to the nearly 300 people from across Asia who dialled into our webinar on “Social Media for B2B Companies”, hosted in partnership with the Wall Street Journal Asia and Citrix Online.

As promised we have uplosed the presentation deck to Slideshare and have updated to include links to a few great additional resources that you can use to help your business get started. These links include the following:

• Ogilvy On: Social Media for Crisis Management  
• Ogilvy On: Twitter for Business
• Ogilvy On: Facebook for Business
• Social Media in Asia Presentation
• APAC Statistics and Research (Asia Digital Map Blog)

Hurry! Space is limited for this 30-minute webinar and registration is required.

Join the award-winning Social Media team from Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide for a free 30-minute online seminar powered by Citrix GoToWebinar and done in partnership with The Wall Street Journal Asia.

This webinar will provide concrete examples, action plans and case studies, including:

· 5 key steps for a business-to-business strategy;
· How to build and engage a community of potential and current customers;
· Real-life case studies from successful business-to-business strategies;
· The highly popular – and now extended – Question and Answer section;
· Much, much more…

The seminar will be led by Brian Giesen a senior regional strategist in Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence team and moderated by Graham White, Managing Director of Howorth Communications in Sydney.

Join us Wednesday, 3 March at 11:00am (Hong Kong time):

http://bit.ly/aWsvrI

Next week we are hosting the third Webinar in our “Executive Guide to Social Media” series, which is a partnership with the Wall Street Journal.

The session is going to be focused on what to do when a crisis hits and we’re fortunate to be joined by John Bell, the global managing director for Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence and Jamie Moeller, who heads up our global public affairs practice.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Sydney / 11 AM to Noon Hong Kong
REGISTER HERE

Here is a quick overview of what will be covered during the Webinar:

The best time to respond to a crisis is before it happens. That is a communications fundamental. Now in age of Twitter, mobile phones, blogs and Facebook, the speed and style of our response has changed dramatically.

Brands that are used to tightly controlled messages are thrust into the back and forth of social media. Detractors are savvy with the ways of YouTube and inciting crowds. Customers and stakeholders often demand that their brands be more transparent and engaging than ever before.

This webinar will include concrete examples and action plans answering numerous questions, including:

• How can you prepare for a crisis today?
• How do you rally your Marketing and Communications team to use all of the resources of the social Web and effectively manage a crisis?
• How should you assemble a plan?
• What NOT to do in a crisis

So get your crisis questions ready and register now as space is limited and we’ve had more than 2,000 registrations for previous sessions!

Join me, Josh Mehlman (Editor, NETT Magazine) and Suzi Dafnis (Community Director, Australian Businesswomen’s Network) and find out!

Next week Wednesday, we’ll be running a 1-hour session on Facebook for Business.  Here are the details:

Lunch+Learn Webinar
Title:    Using Facebook to Build Your Brand
Date:    Wednesday, 14 Oct 2009
Time:    12 noon Australian EDST

REGISTER HERE!

During the session, we’ll be giving practical tips and covering:

• 5 ways to a rapid-start strategy in Facebook
• How to engage your Facebook community
• Real-life examples of how businesses of all sizes use Facebook to build their brands
• And more…

I thought the end of the week would be a good time to start winding down from the mania of work, take stock of what’s been achieved and what I can look forward to in the week ahead. For me this week, it’s about going back to basics and cutting through the fluff in the way we communicate.

No matter how many times it’s been said, I still continue to come across dire examples of communications folks who seem to rapidly lose the plot after “Dear [Editor name]” or “Dear [Blogger name]“. Maybe it’s because we’ve gotten too used to pitch templates, or there’s a false sense of security that the mention of a big brand name/spokesperson equates to instant interest. Or maybe some folks simply get scared when trying to reach out to bloggers and forget how to speak to the human being at the other end of that email.

A few oldies-but-goodies that I will be closing my week off with:

Thou shalt not blast the world and their mother

It all boils down to relevance. Has the journalist/blogger written something of relevance recently that you can reference in your opener? You won’t know unless you read. Read the papers, read blogs, follow smart people on Twitter and read what they link to. Doing so makes you a smarter communicator…for yourself and for your clients. And for goodness sake, address your email recipient by name.

And your point is..?

Anyone out there a fan of The Big Wiffle Waffle? Not me. You’re reaching out for a reason right? So state what it is. Spending the first 5 lines talking about your client’s history/milestones/messages will get you nowhere fast…except maybe the “Delete” button.

The worst blogger “outreach” emails I’ve come across actually go on to tell the blogger what to do. Example: “In exchange for XYZ, you will write a weekly post about XYZ in your blog and create a YouTube video.”

Think about emails that you personally receive that get your attention. They tell you right up front in the subject line what you’re going to get, and it’s based on understanding what you like and what you want. The same principle applies.

Who said so?

Saying your product/contest/event is cool or exciting usually makes it come across as anything but. Especially if you’re fond of using exclamation points in every other sentence!

Again, go back and focus on the individual at the receiving end of your email. One size does not fit all and that’s the surest way to getting you some solid blogger backlash…online or behind your back.

Lastly AND firstly, listen

Nervousness and insecurity can drive us to be verbose, repetitive and fluffy. So I say stop talking for a minute (or more). Take a step back, look straight at whom you’re talking to and really listen to what they’re saying. Set aside your urge to sell your message and instead try to understand what THEY are looking for. You’ll be surprised how far this simple exercise gets you.

Have a great weekend. And while you’re at it, check out:

• 7 Things to do to Avoid Being Killed by a Blogger in a Pitch
• The Real Difference Between Journalists & Bloggers

On Wednesday I am participating in a Lunch+Learn Webinar hosted by Citrix Online.  The focus of the Webinar is how organizations can participate on Twitter and meet business objectives. You can register for Webinar here.

I will be sharing the Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence strategy and approach for using Twitter (Follow, Create, & Engage) and talking about how Twitter can be used to help address seven business objectives, ranging from managing a crisis to promoting products and services. I hope you can join, here is the Citrix email message:

Social media tools like Twitter are redefining how your customers and stakeholders interact online. Isn’t it time to see if your business can leverage the power of this microblogging platform?

In this interactive, one hour Lunch+Learn Webinar, you’ll get a step by step breakdown of how the Twitter service works and how to get started using it. Moreover, you’ll be able to engage with industry experts on practical ways to integrate Twitter into your business.

Attend this one-hour Webinar to learn:

• How to get started using Twitter
• Twitter do’s and don’ts
• How businesses of all sizes use Twitter to gain an advantage
• And more…

Lunch+Learn Webinar
Using Twitter to Gain a Competitive Advantage
Wednesday, 8 July
12 noon Australian EST

Speakers:

• Brian Giesen, Director of Digital Strategy, Ogilvy PR
• Jonathan Crossfield, Marketing Manager, Netregistry
• Josh Melman, NETT Magazine Nett Editor, NETT Magazine