Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Presenting: 10 of the Smartest Big Brands in Social Media
Thanks MASHABLE for these great case studies:
As we battle a global recession, corporations are looking for new ways to sell their products and engage their consumers. Many have turned to the Internet, with Social Media in particular, to market their goods. Let’s take a look at 10 companies that have done a phenomenal job of taking advantage of social media platforms.
As we battle a global recession, corporations are looking for new ways to sell their products and engage their consumers. Many have turned to the Internet, with Social Media in particular, to market their goods. Let’s take a look at 10 companies that have done a phenomenal job of taking advantage of social media platforms.
1. Blendtec Blends it on YouTube
Who doesn’t know about the “Will It Blend” series on YouTube? Created by George Write, the marketing director of Blendtec, the campaign was low cost and instantly became a hit. In the video, Tom Dickson the CEO of Blendtec, attempts to blend objects in their blender. This simple idea led to a “five-fold increase in sales”.
Blendtec leveraged YouTube’s subscriber base and tried something fun and original. The campaign was a success and continues to entertain and sell.
Lesson: Social media marketing doesn’t always need to cost a lot of money. Creating funny, original video and leveraging an already large user base can be used to increase sales.
2. Burger King and the Sacrifice Facebook Application
Recently, Burger King has really been pushing the envelope with their marketing. They first started with whoppervirgins.com, then entered the social space with the “sacrifice ten friends” facebook application. The campaign quickly went viral and was adopted by over 20,000 users, sacrificing 200,000 friends for free whoppers.
Sadly, the application was shut down as quickly as it started by Facebook, citing privacy concerns. Regardless, the application was beautifully built and the idea was perfect. Burger King built in the ability to share it, the incentive to use it, and added just enough humor to make the campaign a hit.
Lesson: Successful and viral campaigns don’t just test out social media, they jump in it. Pushing the envelope can create the buzz that makes your campaign memorable.
3. Starbucks Asks for Your Advice
Social media isn’t only about using existing websites, but sometimes creating your own. To get a better handle on consumer feedback, Starbucks did just that with “My Starbucks Idea.”
The site allows users to submit suggestions to be voted on by Starbucks consumers, and the most popular suggestions are highlighted and reviewed. Starbucks then took it a step further and added an “Ideas in Action” blog that gives updates to users on the status of changes suggested.
By empowering their exceptionally web savvy consumer, Starbucks strengthens their campaign to add a personal touch to coffee.
Lesson: Thinking of ways to build your company are great, but directly asking your consumers what they want, is better. Acting on that information and doing it publicly is key to the success of this campaign.
Starbucks has also embraced Twitter, you can see their stream at @Starbucks.
4. Sun Microsystems and the CEO Blog
Want your blog to really make a splash? You could learn a lot from Sun Microsystem’s CEO blog. Jonathan Schwartz’s blog received about 400,000 hits a month (in 2006).
It’s not the number of hits that make his blog a social media success, but the openness on it. Positive and negative comments are allowed, and even the most inane are approved. Transparency from the highest position in a company trickles down and increases trust from consumers.
Lesson: Social media is a culture of transparency and honesty that must be embraced, leading by example is one of the best ways to introduce it to a company. Few things are better than a CEO that blogs or uses twitter.
Sun Microsystems also has a network of blogs, friends on Facebook, friends on Twitter, and their own Twitter account as well.
5. IBM With Lots of Blogs
When IBM decided they wanted to start using blogs, they didn’t just create one blog, they created an entire network. IBM created a way and allowed their employees to write about their experiences, what they’re working on, or any other topic of choice.
IBM capitalizes on the intelligence of their employees to give consumers insight into what happens behind the scenes. By giving the industry experts they’ve hired a voice, IBM is able to highlight the people behind their products. Users get to see how IBM operates, and are given a direct connection with IBM employees.
Lesson: Having a CEO that blogs is great, but increase the number of blogs and you increase the number of connections. Leveraging your employees to write about what they love conveys the corporate dedication to the industry.
You can also find IBM on Twitter giving updates on events from their calendar.
6. Zappos on Twitter
Obviously we had to talk about Twitter, this is a social media post after all. The most obvious of companies to make Twitter work is Zappos, an online retailer that has really led the way in corporate Twitter use.
The idea of micro-blogging and the sense of exceptional customer service is ingrained in the corporate culture. Most Zappos employees have an active account, and the Zappos site has a page that aggregates all the streams.
The reason why Zappos stands out on Twitter is because of their ability to bring the company to life. The Zappos CEO has lent his personality to the company brand, a personality that is friendly, helpful, funny, and trustworthy. They use Twitter to highlight interesting facts, and to talk to their consumers. Talking to Zappos is like talking to a friend that happens to sell shoes.
Lesson: Take a CEO that twitters, add in a great personality and you have a recipe for social success. Ingraining social media into the culture of a corporation means that every consumer interaction is personal.
Zappos also does a great job of using their blog and Facebook to engage their avid fanbase.
7. Comcast on Twitter too
I never expected to be writing good things about Comcast, but because of Frank Eliason things have changed. Frank is the man behind @comcastcares, a Twitter account setup to help Comcast users in need.
Comcast has found a way to offer exceptional customer service to their consumers, but the thing that really makes them stand out is how well they monitor discontent. Complain about Comcast and you can bet you’ll hear from @comcastcares to see if they can help.
Lesson: Being active on Twitter is great but tracking and seeing who’s mentioning you, is the next step. Social media allows for the possibility of great customer service, and with it, better brand loyalty.
8. Ford and Social Media PR
You’d think I’d talk about how Ford uses Twitter (they use it well), but the thing that makes them really shine is how they did a great job quelling a would-be public relations disaster online with the use of social media.
The basic story is that there was an internal gaffe where Ford’s legal department sent out cease and desist letters to forum owners using Ford trademarks. Obviously the story was twisted and changed, and in the end people were outraged.
What makes this a success story for social media is that Scott Monty (Ford’s community manager) was quick to find out what happened and let us know the true story. Not only that, but as things were being fixed and a compromise was ironed out, the public was informed every step of the way.
Although we don’t know if social media has shown a direct return on investment for Ford, the public relations fiasco it helped avert (think Motrin) should help make the case for more funding for social media.
Lesson: Social media can be used to inform consumers in real-time of how a corporation is reacting to events that affect the customer. Transparency in the process and access to constant information can help stop a negative story from going viral.
9. Graco Uses Pictures on Flickr
Social media is about sharing all types of content, including photos. Facilitating the sharing is easy, but gaining something from it requires a sound strategy. Graco did just that, by building a community around their product using Flickr.
Flickr isn’t the center of their campaign, but they promote it heavily with the Graco blog which also creates an incentive for others to submit pictures. The photographs help highlight the people behind Graco and the consumers using their products.
Graco takes their strategy one step further by introducing offline marketing in the form of community gatherings. The pictures from these meet-ups are posted to the Flickr page, further humanizing the community around the product.
Lesson: Social media doesn’t have to exist wholly online. Blending offline marketing with online efforts can build a community around a brand.
Graco has a blog and leverages Lindsay Lebresco (the corporate blogger for Graco) to be active on Twitter.
10. Dell Doing it Everywhere
Embracing social media is a huge undertaking, and involves a large investment. Dell didn’t shy away from these obstacles, instead they’ve gone above and beyond, truly cultivating a cross-platform community. They’ve created multiple Twitter handles, a network of blogs, and are very active on Facebook.
Dell is also one of the few companies to publicly state that they created a return on investment from Twitter. Apparently, Dell’s social media efforts help create “$1 million in revenue“.
Lesson: Social media isn’t all about ROI, but it is possible. Creating cross-platform strategies can lead to the most success, especially when your demographic is already Internet and technologically savvy.
Other Brands
We’ve explored 10 companies and picked out 10 lessons we can learn from them. As social media evolves, we’ll see how many of these are replaced by new innovations in marketing. Is there a company you think evolved the industry, that deserves to be on this list?
More brand resources from Mashable:
- 40 of the Best Brands on Twitter and the People Behind Them
- 35+ Examples of Corporate Social Media in Action
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Online Personal Finance Traffic Soars
Thanks NetBanker for this overview of personal online finance sites
Online Personal Finance Traffic Soars; Mint Passes One Million Unique Visitors
Online Personal Finance Traffic Soars; Mint Passes One Million Unique Visitors
January is always a great month for personal finance. Consumers working off holiday spending binges and/or attempting to live up to New Years resolutions naturally find their way to personal financial management sites. It's especially pronounced this year as consumers try to better understand their spending and manage for the downturn.
So it's not surprising to see that traffic grew by 300,000 unique visitors in January (+20%) compared to December. Total traffic was up 4.5-fold at sites open for a year or more (see Table 1). Including the class of 2008, total traffic was 2.0 million, a 5-fold increase from a year ago.
Highlights:
- Mint had another great month, increasing site visitors by about 200,000, a five-fold increase in the past year. Mint's gain in January was more than that total traffic of all nine 2008 newcomers combined. Mint had a 60% market share of the total of 1.8 million visitors in the category, about the same as December.
- Geezeo continued its wicked pace, growing 30% during the month, and posting a 12-fold increase over a year ago.
- Quicken Online, which launched in January 2008, more than doubling to 150,000 visitors compared to December. However, traffic at Quicken is hard to compare to other sites due to the massive traffic at its parent site: for example, <quicken.intuit.com> received 1.2 million visitors and <intuit.com> website had more than 10 million.
Wesabe was the only site in those open for a year or more that turned in a traffic decline, falling more than 30% in the month. However, keep in mind the Compete estimates are derived from an online panel and are not always accurate, especially for sites in the low six-figures or less. The company said that it had record page views in January. That includes both the traffic from the U.S., measured by Compete, and international visitors. - BudgetTracker also turned in amazing results, nearly doubling its traffic to an
estimated 27,000 visitors. - Of the 2008 startups (see Table 2), Thrive was the only one showing strong growth, increasing 50% over the previous month. Friday the company was acquired by Lending Tree for an undisclosed amount.
Table 1: Traffic at online PFMs launched more than 1 year ago
| Jan 2009 | Dec 2008 | Jan 2008 | YOY Chg | |
| Mint | 1.1 mil | 890,000 | 200,000 | 5.2x |
| Geezeo | 220,000 | 170,000 | 18,000 | 12x |
| Yodlee | 120,000 | 100,000 | 84,000 | 44% |
| Finicity/Mvelopes | 100,000 | 71,000 | 91,000 | 10% |
| Wesabe | 89,000 | 140,000 | 56,000 | 60% |
| BudgetTracker | 27,000 | 14,000 | 15,000 | 86% |
| Buxfer | 22,000 | 15,000 | 13,000 | 78% |
| PearBudget | 12,000 | 7,600 | 4,200 | 3x |
| ClearCheckbook | 11,000 | 9,100 | 4,600 | 2.3x |
| Total | 1.7 mil | 1.4 mil | 490,000 | 4.5x |
Table 2: Traffic at the online PFM class of 2008
| Jan 2009 | Dec 2008 | Month Chg | |
| Quicken Online | 150,000 | 53,000 | 1.8x |
| PNC Virtual Wallet | 41,000 | 45,000 | (9%) |
| Rudder | 39,000 | 61,000 | (35%) |
| Thrive | 21,000 | 14,000 | 52% |
| Scred | 2,600 | 630 | 4x |
| Expensr | 2,500 | 3,700 | (32%) |
| RateSurfer | 2,100 | 3,600 | (41%) |
| Expensify | 1,400 | 600 | 2.5x |
| Banzai | 1,300 | 1,500 | (15%) |
| GreenSherpa | 400 | ina | -- |
| iThryv | 210 | 2,100 | (90%) |
| Total | 260,000 | 185,000 | 41% |
Source: Compete, 7 Feb 2009; estimates of monthly unique visitors from the United States
*The percent changes were calculated from the underlying data set and due to rounding of the monthly traffic figures, the percentages may look slightly off
Note: For more information on the market, see our Online Banking Report on Personal Finance Features and Online Banking Report on Social Personal Finance.
The Singularity
Thanks Futurelab
Will Singularity Result in Integration of the Human Nervous System and the Mobile Networks and Interfaces? So You Are Your IPhone.
by: Idris Mootee 
Will Singularity Result in Integration of the Human Nervous System and the Mobile Networks and Interfaces? So You Are Your IPhone.
by: Idris Mootee
Remember what you've read about Singularity? The technological singularity is a theoretical future point of unprecedented technological progress, caused in part by the ability of machines to improve themselves using artificial intelligence. Remember Ray Kurzweil? Inventor. Entrepreneur. Artificial Intelligence. Futurist. Author: "The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence" and "The Singularity is Near."
In 2045 the human race "breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress and longevity." Kurzweil's Law of "accelerating returns." Material progress faster than Moore's Law. The "Singularity" is that postulated point in time when technological progress, led by machine intelligences designing their own replacements at an ever-increasing rate, becomes so rapid that we mere humans can no longer comprehend or control it. It is no sci-fi,many think it is real.
Microsoft started early playing with the idea and the singularity project in now its 5th year. One focus of the project has been to throw away the past- the OS we have today (Linux, Windows) evolved from designs in the 60s and 70s when computers were limited in resources and not very networked. What could you get if you design for today’s CPU power?
Some believe that this point will eventually be reached in the real world. I think that those people are drastically underestimating the other limits to progress, such as bandwidth limits for data gathering, the difficulty of comprehension, and the inverse relationship of speed to reliability in data analysis. They're also confusing exponential growth curves (which lead to arbitrarily high growth rates) with S curves, which apply to real-world situations in which growth rates increase for a while as key limits are overcome, then slows again.
But while we're waiting for God to emerge from machines, some of the people promoting the concept of the Singularity are looking for practical ways to turn technological progress into social progress. The questions are when will artificial intelligence out-compete humans? Or when computers can have personalities? Or when I can transfer my knowledge as well as personality traits to a computer? Or will artificial intelligence eventually manifest themselves as brands and run all marketing activities (who needs an ad agency?) These are interesting questions. What other technologies and applications, which may take us to Singularity:
- Computer software endowed with heuristic algorithms (heuristic is an algorithm that is able to produce an acceptable solution to a problem in many practical scenarios, but for which there is no formal proof of its correctness). It means computer can provide answers to right and wrong without formal logic. I can see computers become political.
- Our real life is simulated by computers in a virtual world so if we die, our virtual self lives on. So if you are being murdered, they have to do it twice. It brings new meaning to what is defined as murder of the first degree. May be you can sue someone's virtual self and the real person as part of the collateral damage.
- Artificial entities generated by evolution within computer systems, need some imagination to think about what are those entities? Stephen King loves this.
- Integration of the human nervous system and computer and mobile connectivity and interfaces. You are your iPhone. Just hope it doesn't crash. Interface designers have a bright future ahead of them. Apple Care has new meanings.
- Dynamically organizing social networks so the system help you to pick, manage and organize your social life. The next Facebook?
All these ideas are disruptive and scary in some cases. But we are moving towards that direction. Many are pushing that idea and they include Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis (X Prize Foundation), and Google co-founder Larry Page. They formed a Singularity University aimed at both students and executives in various technology disciplines (including Space & Physical Sciences, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology, Neuroscience & Human Enhancement, AI, Robotics, & Cognitive Computing, Energy & Ecological Systems and Future Studies), the objective is to close the gap in understanding and applying fast-developing technologies to solve what they called humanity's grandest challenges...such as poverty, hunger, and pandemics. In another word, applying Singularity to safe the world.
I don’t think the answers to many of these problems will come from technologies alone. My biggest concern whether the top-down, capital intensive management systems will dominate the thinking and cloud the visions of people who might make other choices if they only saw the potential for them. And technology is always a double-edged sword. Same as Singularity. The future is always dangerous…and exciting.
Have a great weekend.
Heidi Cohen Eight Ways to Use Video to Boost Your Marketing
Thanks ClickZ for this:
Online video is white hot. It's being used in many ways and delivered anywhere your target audience is. The U.S. election was a watershed mark for streaming video in terms of the length of time and number of viewers. Marketers should be device indifferent since users may view your content on mobile devices, computers, and flat-screen televisions.
Online video is white hot. It's being used in many ways and delivered anywhere your target audience is. The U.S. election was a watershed mark for streaming video in terms of the length of time and number of viewers. Marketers should be device indifferent since users may view your content on mobile devices, computers, and flat-screen televisions.
To better understand the state of online video, consider the following:
- Almost 80 percent of U.S. Internet users watched videos for roughly five hours in December 2008, with an average duration of 3.2 minutes per video, according to comScore.
- 65 percent of online video views were streamed between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, making this video primetime due to the faster Internet connections available at work, reported Nielsen Online.
- In 2009, online video advertising is projected to grow 45 percent to $850 million, according to eMarketer's latest forecast.
- 5 percent of mobile subscribers accessed mobile video on their phones each month, according to Nielsen in its Q3 2008 Mobile Video Report.
- About one-third of online retailers offer video on their sites, according to Vovici Corp.'s September 2008 research for Internet Retailer.
Online Video's Five Subject Categories
Consider your target market's needs when creating online video content because they can have a major impact on the video's optimal length and its shelf life. An SIIA Information Industry Summit panel advised attendees to think about whether their audience snacks on short videos or engages with longer formats. Here are five popular types of video content you can use:
- News, including weather. Viewers often look for short tidbits to be informed about what's happening in their world. Think about the type of news most relevant to your target audience.
- Sports. Typically, these videos consist of clips highlighting a single sports play where the audience is highly engaged.
- How-to and research information. Viewers often look for answers to specific questions, so make it easy for your videos to be found. This content can be evergreen.
- Entertainment, including comedy, music, TV shows, clips, and movies. Everyone looks for fun diversions. While entertaining content can be short, users are also watching longer formats, such as complete television shows and movies.
- Social media, including user-generated content. These videos often focus on humor.
Eight Ways to Use Online Video
Regardless of whether you're a retailer, media company, or brand marketer, think holistically about how to incorporate video into your communications strategy. Here are eight ways to use online video to extend your marketing mix:
- Extend news coverage and other media events. While established brands like CNN dominate, any Web site can create its own channel.
- Provide product-related information to aid use, including how-to for complex products that require training or further help. For example, Janome sewing machines partnered with Threadbanger
- Create videos for product placement. Develop or partner with a video series that highlights your product and engages your target market, like Starburst has done with Nite Fite
- Portray products in a real environment to help customers experience the product without seeing it in person. Extend your Web site to give customers a more retail-like environment.
- Show real customers giving their honest reactions, like an infomercial.
- Sponsor an ongoing video series created by a third party to associate your brand with special personalities or other brands, such as Degree's integration with TMI Weekly's Little Black Dress episode.
- Extend other forms of content you're already creating, such as Webinars, analyst presentations, and quarterly meetings.
- Use video to connect with remote staff or customers.
Keep in mind that you need to drive traffic to your videos. Matt Cutler, VP, marketing and analytics of Visible Measures, suggests releasing related videos at the same time and cross-promoting them to help concentrate views over a short period to optimize distribution of related videos. The goal is to help your video reach top-viewed status that increases video views.
Four Ways Online Video Contributes to Profitability
Media companies, brands, and e-tailers can benefit from using online video. Here's how it can add to the bottom line:
- Advertising vehicle. From a consumer perspective, quantity and length are an issue. Product placement and sponsorship are other ways to create revenue on media sites.
- Paid products. Depending on the availability of the information or event, viewers may be willing to pay for downloads.
- Product sales support. Retailers can gain by using videos to better illustrate product use prior to purchase and to support product use and community building after purchase.
- Branding enhancement. You can enhance branding through the use of online videos that engage viewers, like the Blendtec blender videos.
Seven Online Video Metrics
To ensure that online video meets your marketing goals, track the following factors to ensure you're on track:
As online video evolves, there are bigger audiences to be had and increasingly more exciting ways to get their attention. The cost of creating and serving video has come down. It is time to get creative by using video to extend your marketing reach and complement your marketing plan
- Viewers. How many people have seen your video? What's the pass-along rate? Is it going viral?
- Views and Time. How many times are the videos viewed? How much of each one is viewed?
- Interaction. Since online videos tend to drive user interaction, assess comments for frequency and content and watch how viewers are using the video to create mashups and the like.
- Branding. Have your branding metrics improved as a result of online video use?
- Revenues. How have the videos helped support sales in terms of supplying direct identifiable sales leads or adding to the prepurchase research phase? Also, consider whether videos have helped reduce returns through post-purchase support.
- Costs. What is the expense of developing the video and related Web site support? How does this compare to the benefits you are realizing?
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