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Archives for March 2012

Data – The Missed Marketing Opportunity

marketing dataWhile there is no question that data mining is an essential part of successful brand and business development, marketers still struggle to make sense of the massive amounts of data available to them. The days of collecting data about customers through traditional market research surveys and focus groups with little other opportunity to access that data are long gone. In fact, there is so much data available online and via the social web today that marketers are completely overwhelmed.

Today’s data struggles for marketers come in a few forms:

  1. The sheer volume of data available at marketers’ fingertips can be paralyzing.
  2. Finding and extracting the right data is challenging.
  3. Knowing what to do with the available data is confusing.

There was a time when consumer surveys told marketers what consumers liked and disliked. Decision-making was simple. Numbers led the way. Today, data is so much more accessible and numbers come from all directions. The web is a virtual treasure trove of quantitative and quantitative data for strategic decision-making, but where do you begin?

That’s the problem researchers from Columbia Business School found in their recent 2012 BRITE-NYAMA Marketing in Transition Study — large corporations need to do a better job at using data, measuring digital marketing, and assessing marketing ROI. Sample findings from the study include the following:

  • 39% of corporate marketers say their company data is collected too infrequently or not “real-time enough.”
  • 52% of corporate marketers believe that a lack of sharing data within their companies limits their abilities to effectively measure marketing ROI.
  • Large corporations are less likely to collect emerging forms of digital data (e.g., only 19% collect mobile data and just 35% collect social media data) than they are to collect traditional customer survey data (e.g., 74% collect demographics data, 60% collect usage data, and 54% collect attitude data).
  • 65% of corporate marketers say that comparing the effectiveness of marketing across digital media is a “major challenge” for their companies.
  • 39% of corporate marketers say they can’t turn their data into actionable insight.
  • 36% of corporate marketers say they have “lots of customer data,” but they, “don’t know what to do with it.”

These days, collecting data isn’t necessarily the biggest problem for marketers. The problem is having the right resources (meaning tools and manpower) to continually collect, expertly analyze, and effectively disseminate that data to internal audiences so decision makers can make the right real-time strategic decisions. Companies that take the time to learn how to use all of this “new” data and hire the best people to analyze that data and report the most important findings will be in a far better position in the long-run. It’s not about how much data you collect. It’s about how you interpret it and use it to make the best decisions.

What do you think about the problems with data in 2012? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Ulrik De Wachter

Consumers Engaging with Brands on Google+

google plusGoogle+ isn’t even a year old yet and Brand Pages have only been around since November 2011, but already, brands are seeing user engagement on Google+ according to research by comScore. That means many of the companies that encourage consumers to interact with their brands on Google+ through following, commenting, +1ing, and sharing content are already seeing positive results.

Of course, the data collected so far isn’t staggering — Google+ is new for both consumers and brands. As eMarketer explains, “As marketers start to become more comfortable there, it will be interesting to see whether active brands can bring more active users, or whether usage must improve on Google+ before it becomes a significant channel for brand communication.”

Let’s take a look at some of the stats gathered by Simply Measured, which has been tracking the Top 100 Brands (based on financial performance according to Interbrand) to try to determine the extent that brand name influences purchase decision as well as to measure the strength of the brand. The company did this by tracking and analyzing each brand’s Google+ activities between November 2011 through March 2012. Here are some of the key statistics collected:

  • 60 of the Top 100 Brands according to Interbrand had verified accounts on Google+.
  • Wednesdays were the most active days for brands to post content on Google+ and for users to engage with those posts. In fact, 21% of all brand posts were published on a Wednesday during the tracking period. Mondays were the second most active day. Weekend activity was significantly less for both brand posts and engagement (approximately 75% less active than the least active weekday, Friday).
  • Mornings are the most active time for both brand posts to be published and users to engage with those posts with 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. local time being the most active hour for both (when many people are just sitting down at their desks to begin work). 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. local time was the second most active hour for both brand posts and user engagement. 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time is the least active time for both brand posts and engagements (when people are likely to be commuting home from work and eating dinner).

What’s most interesting about this data is how frequently people engage with brands on Google+ during work hours. The sweet spot for brand posting and engagement is 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. local time on a weekday. Of course, that’s just a small part of the Google+ marketing puzzle. Brands need to learn what kind of content and conversations the Google+ audience is most willing to engage with, talk about, and share.

With Google+ becoming more and more important to Google search results in a variety of ways, brands need to have a presence on on the site. However, the recipe for success is still unknown.

What do you think about Google+? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: West McGowan

Pinboard: communicating culture

collection of doors

Pinterest: huge growth among scrapbooking individuals, a big pile-on from marketers, and then even bigger interest in the Pinterest terms and conditions.

Pinterest changed their terms and conditions in the last few days, and as Knoed Creative say, there’s good news and the same news: Pinterest will not sell your content—apparently this was never the intention—but there is still a potential copyright issue over the content that you post.

There’s a fascinating post from a copyright/internet lawyer suggesting that in practice, the risk is low. (Note: Rick Sanders isn’t offering legal advice on this, and neither am I!) Of course, if you are a business, then the risk is likely to be higher than if you were pinning as an individual.

So here’s the play-it-safe suggestion:

  • only pin what you have the rights to, link, and attribute correctly
  • if you want people to freely pin your content, offer a Pin It button to make it clear
  • if you don’t want people to pin your content, you can add code to your site to prevent it

Assuming you do, in fact, represent a business, what could you use Pinterest for?

Scrapbooking (aka Pinterest) is all about the visual, so how about video or images of your products, employees, projects, or other images that tell your corporate story? Have a look at how the Kansas City Police do it…

Expanding this to other stakeholder areas… do you think your audience might be on Pinterest? If they are—and if it is worth your while to spend time on this rather than on other social networks—how about creating:

  • a Careers-oriented pinboard, with images from your careers events mixed with branding images; perhaps multiple pinboards, depending on the different groups you’re trying to attract. The US Army has some great Careers best practices on their website; they also use Pinterest to reach different stakeholders
  • a CSR oriented pinboard, with images of your CSR events and activities, employee projects… if you’re following the ‘show don’t tell’ rule, then show how CSR is integral to your products/services/culture. Examples: VanillaSoft’s microloan program on Pinterest
  • a press-kit style pinboard for each product launch, or for other significant news: images, video, links back to your site for more information. I don’t know whether Heineken, for example, are on Pinterest, but a search for ‘Heineken’ on Pinterest reveals a lot of interest!

Think moodboard, to get the style right – and have a look at these marketing campaigns to see what others have done on Pinterest to promote their brand.

If you’re thinking about internal comms, bear in mind that at the moment, Pinterest isn’t offering private boards, or boards for groups, so you do need to assume that anything you pin will be publicly available. How about investigating Gimmebar, Juxtapost or Clipix for an alternative?

Brand Video Contests Come to YouTube

winnerWildfire is a leading social media marketing software company that’s well-known for its Facebook tools which make it easy for brands to hold contests and promotions on their Facebook Pages.  Wildfire also offers tools that integrate social media promotions with Twitter, and LinkedIn, and this week, the company announced it now offers its enterprise and consumer brand customers the ability to hold video contests on YouTube, too.

Wildfire’s customers include well-known brands like Mercedes-Benz, Sony, and Dairy Queen, and each of these companies has leveraged Wildfire’s Facebook promotional tools to run video contests on their Facebook Pages. In fact, throughout 2011, Wildfire helped brands run over 7,000 video contests, but none of them could be run directly through YouTube. Wildfire’s new YouTube integration makes it easier for brands to engage with consumers directly on the most popular video site in the world — YouTube.

Brands can run independent contests on both Facebook and YouTube through Wildfire now, or they can link a single contest across both sites. Wildfire offers the following tips for brand video contests:

  • Show sample video entries to potential contestants: Instead of describing in words what users should submit, show them an example in an easy-to-follow video.
  • Invest in relevant prizes that are highly appealing: Loyal customers are most likely to submit video entries, so be sure to reward them with prizes that are relevant to the brand.
  • Make it easy for people to create video entries: The easier it is for people to create video entries, the better. Don’t include requirements related to locations, props, editing, and so on that can reduce entries and contest buzz significantly.

AdWeek reports that Wildfire is already working to add more features to its YouTube promotional offerings, particularly YouTube’s mobile opportunities. Considering Wildfire has 13,000 paying customers, which includes 30 of the top 50 brands on Interbrand’s 2011 list of the best global brands, you can bet you’ll be seeing a lot more brand video contests on YouTube this year.

Have you tried video contests to promote your brand? Wildfire reports that the 7,000 video contests brands ran on Facebook in 2011 using its tools generated 6.5 million visits. Since video is the heart and soul of YouTube, engagement and results are expected to be even higher for video contests that run directly on YouTube. Will you give it a try for your brand? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Kriss Szkurlatowski

Skechers Launches Creative Rewards Program with a Crowdsourcing Twist

Consumers who purchase Skechers shoes and products are quite vocal about those purchases. As Adweek reports, there are 60,000 product reviews and 32,000 questions and answers published by consumers on the Skechers.com website. In an effort to boost loyalty, build a stronger online community, and increase engagement on the Skechers website, the company launched a new twist to its rewards program that leverages crowdsourcing in a creative way.

Members of the Skechers Elite rewards program can now earn points not just for purchasing Skechers products but also for their activities on the Skechers.com website. For example, members of the rewards program can earn points when they publish product reviews or when they answer questions published on the site by other customers. These points will be added to the rewards points they earn when they make purchases, and points can be redeemed for coupons or used toward future purchases.

The clever part of this rewards program announcement is the use of customers who have already demonstrated their loyalty to Skechers by joining the Skechers Elite program. These people are likely to be brand advocates who will engage with other users and create content for the company. Rather than paying a team of customer service representatives to field questions on the website, other customers can manage some of that burden. By rewarding them for their time and effort, they feel valued. Furthermore, visitors to the Skechers website will see the active community of customers, which will help to add a perception of credibility and brand trust. It’s a win-win-win situation for the Skechers brand and company, loyal customers, and new customers.

Of course, one could argue that by rewarding customers who publish product reviews, you run the risk of being accused of indirectly paying for those reviews. The trick for Skechers is to ensure that there is no perception of dishonesty. Reviewers in the Skechers program whose reviews are most frequently flagged as most helpful will get special badges to add to their user profiles. This could be a step in the wrong direction. In other words, there is a temptation for customers to write a more extreme review in order to get more people to flag that review as helpful. As long as rewards points aren’t tied to the type of review — positive or negative — then the Skechers program should work.

Remember, it’s all about perception. If you try to implement a similar crowdsourcing effort tied to your brand loyalty program, be very careful and monitor customer reviews and conversations closely to make sure no one tries to game the system. It only takes one dishonest review or user to launch a mass of negative publicity.

Image: Clay Irving

Three core items for responsible media engagement

Often the greatest advances can be made by a single individual or by micro organisations who, while not necessarily radical, grasp the essence of an issue where larger corporations faff with trying to meet the needs of their share- and stake- holders.

This is why I spend a lot of my time looking at minor players in the CSR world.  Sometimes such SMEs provide radical thinking, but more often than not they provide clear thinking, unrestrained by the social, political or economic factors which so often constrain larger corporations.

One such organisation is the Ibero-American Forum on Social Responsibility, hosted and organised by Perla Puterman.  A hint of what this collective is about can be seen straightaway in the group’s name.  It doesn’t limit itself to just Latin America  nor does it definitively align itself with North, Central or South American countries.

Instead it looks to build bridges between Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, whether they are in the Americas or the Iberian peninsula.  When you add to the mix the rise of countries like Brazil and Venezuela in the global economy and the growing need for the improvement in responsible trading relations between European and South America, then you start to see the sense of an Ibero-American Forum. [Read more…] about Three core items for responsible media engagement