Social Media Users as Product Experts?

If you've seen the latest Tempur-Pedic "Ask Me About My Mattress" advertisement or commercial for the movie When in Rome, you may have noticed that companies are trusting social media users to provide recommendations for their products.  The Tempur-Pedic ad encourages audience members to ask their friends via Facebook and Twitter how they like their Tempur-Pedic mattress, and one of several When in Rome commercials mentions praise of the movie from Facebook and Twitter fans where movies usually use analysis from expert reviewers.

Word-of-mouth recommendations have been around for a long time, and savvy companies have used positive customer reviews to add legitimacy to their products for just as long.  The only difference now is that companies are using social media as a vehicle to deliver those recommendations.

I am clearly a fan of social media;  it enables the average person to share information and create relationships with the general public, but I do not think that recommendations-via-social media is a good next step.  While recommendations may be effective when delivered in person, when they are broadcast online some of their trustworthiness is lost.

People can (and do!) say whatever they want over the Internet without any accountability.  Because of this lack of consequences, the Web has a reputation for broadcasting bogus information.  Consumers would sooner trust an official movie reviewer or someone they know because people say crazy things online.  Particularly in the case of the When in Rome movie, viewers may be skeptical that the ad does not feature official reviews because the omission may be indicative of unfavorable reviews.

Giving Through Social Media

Less than 48 hours after a massive earthquake destroyed much of Haiti, the American Red Cross had already received $35 million dollars in donations to the relief effort (according to James Morgan's article for the BBC, Twitter and Facebook Users Respond to the Haiti Crisis).  $8 million of that was received directly through texts to the ARC donation line 90999.  Today the text donations have surpassed $22 million, according to the New York Times, and that amount is largely thanks to social media.

Without time for a traditional print, TV, or online messaging campaign, the ARC turned to social media to spread the word quickly about the 90999 donation line and the necessity of relief donations.   The ARC itself does not have many followers on Twitter, fans on Facebook, readers in the blogosphere, or viewers on YouTube, but they reached out to celebrities, athletes, and even the first lady who were able to make a huge impact in the social media world.  Following their example, everyday social media users started groups on Facebook, re-tweeted the ARC's message, blogged about the cause, and posted YouTube videos imploring people to donate.

http://www.r4mr0dinc.net/R4mr0dInc/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/redcross.jpg

This mobile donation campaign has had unprecedented success that could not have been possible without the vast numbers of people now connected through social media.  While traditional messaging campaigns are still quite powerful, this example shows how powerful messaging through social media can be as well.

Dairy Gets a Booooost From Social Media

It’s hard to make milk a hot, new, branded commodity, but that is exactly what Real California Milk attempts to do with its Happy Cows campaign.  The now ubiquitous “Got milk?” campaign may have been successful in increasing overall milk sales, but smaller milk brands are not known for launching national advertising campaigns.  As a result, a lot of people consume dairy products like milk and cheese with more concern for convenience and price than brand name. 

Real California Milk's national television and online campaign aims to foster brand loyalty among dairy lovers by positioning Real California Milk as a better dairy brand because their milk comes from happy cows.  Their television ads feature a number of cows from all over the world that want to be California cows.  Viewers get to vote on which cow will receive the honor of mooooving to California on the Happy Cows Audition Site.  They hope that the voting will generate online buzz via social media and create awareness of California Milk as a hip, new, quality dairy brand.

Nothing says “hip” and “new” like social media (in combination with a hip and new overall communication strategy, of course).  It worked nationally with Barack Obama.  It worked locally with the Charleston Animal Society’s Spike vs. Biscuit mascot race.  Now it might work with Real California Milk.  It seems that getting customers involved with a brand leads to a more loyal customer base than just throwing advertisements at them.  Customers seem to be involved with the California Happy Cows campaign because many are posting plugs for their favorite cows on the company's Facebook page, commenting on pictures and videos of the cows, and, of course, voting for their favorite cow on the Real California Milk Web site.

Social Ads for Social Media

Facebook does not have many ads on its site, but the ads that they do have are different from most banner ads because they are strategically targeted to an individual's profile, and they are socially interactive.  This type of interactive ad makes sense with the demographic of people on Facebook who already consider the Internet very social.

The ads sometimes give viewers the option of "Like-ing" the ad, becoming a fan of the product or company on their Facebook page, or sending an online RSVP to the Facebook event being advertised.  This might not be that different from the usual click-through ad except for one rather unusual feature.  If you choose to get rid of the ad by clicking the small gray "x" in the upper right corner, you are asked to comment on why you do not like the ad.

Comment box that appears when you try to remove an ad on Facebook.

This comment box serves as a useful tool to create a database of customer preferences and conduct market research.  As Facebook tells it, "Over time, this information helps us deliver more relevant ads to our users."

Facebook already uses a lot of its users' information to segment its advertising like, location, age, sex, keywords, education, workplace, relationship status, relationship interests, and languages.  You can find out more about how Facebook segments its users on the Facebook advertising page.

I know from personal experience that the ads on my Facebook page are very responsive to changes I make to my profile.  Once for April Fools Day I changed my relationship status to "engaged" and I was immediately barraged with ads about wedding rings, dresses, photographers, venues, caterers, and more.  Also, when I was studying abroad in Barcelona last spring, my Facebook advertisements were mostly in Spanish or Catalan.

Facebook's interactive advertising style with the opportunity to remove ads, comment boxes, "Like" buttons, "Become fan" buttons that link to the advertiser's Facebook page, etc., is a new type of online advertising that works well with the site's already interactive nature.  It also reflects a general increase in Web sites integrating "social" options that make interaction between companies and consumers easier.

Social Media and Flip Video: The Perfect Marriage

Traditional media was once the only way people could spread information to mass audiences but new technology and social media have changed all that.  Cheap digital cameras and social networking sites like YouTube and Facebook have enabled common Internet users to become their own media outlet and share information with their social networks.

Just as traditional media shares information with the public, social media shares information with social networks.  The new Flip Video™ digital camcorder is perfectly suited for social media because it empowers people to take and share video more easily.  To maximize on this connection to social media, Flip Video™ has created a "community" using many forms of social media.

Their Facebook page allows Flip Video™ users to share their favorite videos and ask technical support questions from other fans.  Their MySpace page has exclusive videos from the Vans Warped Tour '09, forums, and comments.  Their YouTube channel has videos of "example Flip-able moments" like a flash rave on the beach, two babies playing together, a giraffe, etc.  Their Twitter account posts special offers, discounts, and contests.  They also send out a newsletter to more than 465,725 fans that you can sign up for from their Web site.

Some British girls use the Flip Video™ to record their weekend shenanigans.

Without social media, the Flip Video™ would probably not have as much success.  Social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook enable people to share their videos easily, so a simple, highly portable camcorder like the Flip Video™ just makes the video sharing process easier.

In addition, social media has created a culture of people who like to share information about themselves with their social networks and the public, so they will be more interested in being able to shoot video wherever, whenever.  More private cultures and individuals would probably not be as enthusiastic.

Verizon Jumps on Vampire (and Social Media) Bandwagon

In an effort to tap into the vampire frenzy that began with the Twilight saga, Verizon Wireless partnered with MTV to launch a cross-platform murder mystery miniseries about students at Valemont University who turn out to be (spoiler alert!) vampires.  A girl's brother is murdered at Valemont, and all she has is his old Verizon Wireless phone conveniently packed with tons of video footage, text messages, and emails to help her solve the mystery.

Mini episodes of Valemont play each week after MTV's The Hills and The City and are then posted on MTV's Valemont Web site.  You can help solve the mystery by signing up with Verizon to receive text clues to your phone or by "enrolling" on the Valemont University Official Web site where you can send and receive messages with the show's characters on a virtual Verizon Wireless phone.

You can also interact with characters and other fans on the Facebook page, character Twitter pages, flikr page, blog, interactive forum, and more.  For the few hundred or thousand people that are interested, these Web sites and social media platforms offer lots of opportunities to get to know the characters and get involved with the story.

According to the 2008 Multiscreen Cross-platform Media & Advertising Engagement Study conducted by MTV Networks Research in collaboration with Harris Interactive and MauroNewMedia, viewers of The Hills who interact with the show both on TV and online are more responsive to the products advertised across those platforms.  They found that "advertising retention and associated value increases as a user is more engaged and experiences more platforms.  Advertising across platforms results in exponentially more interest in buying or considering the product advertised." (slide 20)

According to this research, fans of The Hills and The City who engage with the shows across platforms (TV and online) will be more receptive to the Valemont advertising across platforms.  So the cross-platform fans of The Hills and The City may be engaged, interested targets for the Valemont Verizon campaign, but I still do not think the Valemont miniseries is an effective strategy to sell phones.

This miniseries is pretty cool (and I can't wait to find out what happens!) but I do not think it was very strategic of Verizon Wireless.  As Al Ries said in his article, The TGIF Revolution is Nothing Without a Marketing Strategy, on AdAge, throwing social media at a communications problem does not always fix it.

Do people buy phones because they are prominently featured in online murder mysteries?  Will this Valemont miniseries actually lead to a shift in consumer behavior?  I find the Web sites and episodes entertaining, but I am not going to buy the Valemont Verizon Wireless phone or change my cell service provider, and I do not think many people will.

¡Social Media Fiesta!

Generation Y (13- to 29-year-olds) are a pretty influential group.  This may seem surprising considering not all of Gen Y can even legally drive, but more than half of all household vehicle purchases are influenced by Gen Y, according to a 2006 Resource Interactive report.

Ford appears to be aware of this statistic.  The 2010 American launch of the new Ford Fiesta targets Gen Yers with a hip-yet-goofy online campaign called the "Fiesta Movement."   The Fiesta Movement integrates a ton of different forms of social media and really lets customers get involved with the car.  Ford selected 100 young, cool "agents" to drive a Fiesta (for free!) for 6 months, complete a series of "missions" (one each month) with their Fiesta, and chronicle their experiences on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and any other social network or sharing site you could think of.

How many people do YOU think can fit in a Fiesta? Find out on the Fiesta Flickr page

Why am I suddenly noticing this now?  The "agents" were set to work back in April, and the Fiesta Movement is almost finished!  Answer: CollegeHumor.  One of Ford's "agents" got Jake and Amir, two relatively famous online personalities from CollegeHumor, to take her Fiesta for a road trip this week. They are Tweeting (@jakeandamir) about where they are in the country and the first fans who find them get a free dinner.  They have also been posting videos of their Fiesta adventures and their fans have been very responsive so far.

Without any traditional media ads placements, this Fiesta Movement campaign and partnership with CollegeHumor demonstrates an emerging trend of marketing to 13- to 29-year-olds using just online buzz.  (Just look at how unexpectedly popular Snakes on a Plane was thanks to online buzz!) It also demonstrates companies' growing interest in Generation Y as a profitable and influential market segment.