iMediaWorksConnect by @iMediaMichelle

Brands: Unlock Your Social Reach

Recently the CMO Club reported nearly two-thirds of chief marketing officers plan to increase their spending on social media marketing next year.  Their research found that more than eight in 10 respondents (81%) expect to link up to 10% of their annual revenues to social media investment next year.  That’s no small bet.

Despite this deliberate shift in media spending, many of these CMOs are unsure about their return from marketing on social networking Web sites.  TV, radio and print have all enjoyed the confidence and repeat investment by brand marketers for over half a century.  Yet there is still a pervasive perception that social media is not as legitimate or proven to garner the same level of consumer eyeballs and interest around a particular brand.  Given that the population of social networks like Facebook and Twitter are exploding, this comparison hardly seems fair.

In fact, the influence of the Social Web is quickly maturing and we’re now starting to see its direct impact on actual consumer purchase behaviors across the purchase funnel:

Most telling is the correlation between consumer social media exposure and their online shopping behaviors.  Social media is a bona fide traffic driver to brand websites.  With the expected growth of smart phone adoption and the mobile web usage, that linkage is certain to become even stronger.

Social media influence clearly matters, but how much of it is out there?

According to Facebook, the average user has 130 friends.  For Twitter, the average account has 40 followers.  While these figures may not translate into exact uniques, they do start to convey the potential reach and power of Facebook page and Twitter account audiences.  And for some Fortune 500 brands, their combined potential Facebook and Twitter reach are starting to rival some of the most popular television properties:

• 15 F500 brands have a potential social reach that exceeds a single episode of American Idol (29.5M),
• Another 2 F500s have more potential reach than an evening of NBC Sunday Night Football (20M),
• Another 5 have more than Glee (8.17M),
• And an additional 22 beat an hour of The Daily Show (2M)

Check out the Fortune 500 brands in the Social Power Top 50 for combined social reach:

 

Imagine being able to tap into these potential audience levels all day long, instead of just a 30-60 minute time block one night or one day per week.  While lots of large brands may have captured the initial interest of social consumers to “tune in” via channels such as Facebook, and Twitter, few have taken steps to capitalize on it:

Few are Part of the Real-time Conversation

For the average Fortune 500, barely a quarter of the brand share of voice directly comes from real-time status updates, which are quickly becoming a part of consumer’s daily routines.  Photo and blog posts still eclipse Twitter updates as primary sources of brand social mentions.

Some are Not Connecting Frequently with Fans

The average Facebook Fan audience for an F500 company is 75,000; for Twitter it’s almost 13,000.  Taking into account the reach factor of both channels, the potential combined social reach for an average F500 brand exceeds 10 million.  Amazingly, 43% of F500 Facebook Fan Pages and 41% of Twitter Accounts have remained inactive for more than six months.

Most are Not Integrating their Social Presence

Only 9% of Fortune500 brands feature any part of their social media presence on their website Home Pages.  Amongst those who do, typically only one social media channel is highlighted.  When it comes to cross-pollination of key social media channels within one another, the pattern is only marginally better at 12%.

Time to Unlock Your Social Reach

Still believe you shouldn’t get engaged on social channels until you have the perfect strategy?  Watch out…if you don’t start tapping into your brand’s social audience, someone else eventually will.  Here are three simple steps you can take to begin unlocking the power of your social reach to engage and potentially influence your consumers:

1. Stop Playing Hide and Seek - Make it easy for fans to find you.  If your brand already has a Fan page, then openly join, talk to the creators, start participating in the existing conversations and add a visible callout above the page fold of your Home Page, About Us and Contact Us pages.  Don't limit cross-pollination to just your blog page; include visible references to all of your key social channels within your YouTube profiles, Facebook Fan Page tabs and Twitter Account backgrounds.
   
2. Inspire the Crowd - Offer people something meaningful to do with their time.  Invite followers to help shape decisions on corporate philanthropic efforts.  Educate and entertain the crowd with demonstrations unique to your product or service.  Challenge fans to come up with their most innovative uses of your product.  Share some little known brand history or solicit past memories through brand nostalgia with classic tv spots, radio jingles, famous billboards or other memorabilia.
3. Feature the Best of the Best - Curate and promote valuable content.  Aggregate and feature the best consumer-generated "how to" videos out there for your product within your YouTube Channel.  Create Twitxpert lists of subject matter experts and known insiders within your industry field and tweet your favorites of the week.  Run Facebook Polls ala Digg style to uncover interesting bloggers and others posting content around relevant hot topics of interest to your fans and feature the results on your the Landing Tab of your Fan Page.
   

Superbowl season is fast approaching and with it a blitz of high-powered media for one of the single largest consumer audiences worldwide.  But with the potential social reach power of Facebook and Twitter, many brands may already have a superbowl size crowd just a click away.  No matter what you choose to do in these channels, maintain your human side.  Your customers and fans will thank you for it.

Research Note:  The Fortune 500 data cited in the above post was collected in 2Q2009 and represents the largest Facebook Fan Page and Twitter Account per brand on the individual day of collection.

Tempurpedic’s Approach to Social is Right On Target

Normally I tend to ignore television commercials, but recently one by Tempurpedic Mattress caught my attention.  The ad features real customers discussing their Tempurpedic sleeping experience and invites consumers to use social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter as part of their own bed shopping research activities.

Instead of the usual “Come to our Facebook Page” or “Follow Us on Twitter” calls to action in the video, Tempurpedic demonstrates that they understand the true power of the social web to connect and engage one another through Trusted Agents (ala Chris Brogan) to gain information, be entertained and share life experiences.  Hopefully we’ll see more of this attitude and approach in campaigns to come.

What Happened to Phoning Home?

There is no doubt that we are living in serious economic times, where even greater thoughtful and creative measures are required to survive and thrive.  Thanks to the mass love affair with Facebook and Twitter, brands have additional means to get their products/services in front of consumers in the hope of getting noticed.

TV land is still an attractive channel to many brands, large and small, with the prices for scatter ads falling 25% - 30% below previous year’s rates as recently reported by Ad Age. However, its branded entertainment deals that seem to be the darling of the ad world again.  Red Bull has been a leader in this area through its own “Life Gives You Wings” campaign that has brought a dizzying array of extreme sports videos from “air racing” and “sound clash” to the “7 city hustle”.  But inside the world of Hollywood, are brands missing out on connecting with their consumers in their mad scramble for more product exposure through popular shows, films and videos?

Recently, Pepsi’s Izze received kudos for getting its pomegranate-flavored fruit beverage in the hands of one of Grey’s Anatomy’s lead characters, Izzie Stevens.  One comment posted by Victor Profis who heads up Travel & Tourism for Southern Living Magazine caught my eye:

            “I saw that show and I never picked up on this.  Well maybe PepsiCo did not get anywhere the kind of meaningful exposure that one would have think they received.  But good for them for getting on the show”

I didn’t catch this particular episode myself – but I agree with Victor – its great to get on, but how did Izze pomegranate contribute to the story?  Is it enough in these hard economic times, with every sort of media available bombarding consumers, to just “get on”….or do fans/consumers need more in order to stop and notice brands?

Probably one of the greatest cinema stories of all time (or at least for my generation) is that of “E.T. – The Extraterrestrial”.  Who could forget the amazing tale of friendship that develops between 8 year-old Elliott and the adorable E.T.?  One of the key moments in the friendship journey took place over a sharing of Reeses Pieces – the delicious peanut butter with a hard candy shell.  To this day, I still reach for a pack of Reeses anytime I’m in the mood to munch and share with friends.  “E.T.” was quite a computer whiz – I was impressed with his groundbreaking adaptation of the “Speak and Spell” as a communication device.  I spent hours as a kid trying to get my version to reach out beyond my bedroom walls.  The story stuck with me and so did the brands that contributed to it.

Brands must not forget this simple, but powerful example.  Their products/services must contribute and help build stories in order for consumers to connect and make them part of their daily lives.  So in looking at the Grey’s Anatomy example, I’m wondering why Izzie Stevens chose this beverage instead of something else at the hospital cafeteria.  What about the moment in the episode made that particular beverage the right one to enjoy?

The possibilities for consumer connection between traditional tv viewing and social media continue to explode.  I encourage brands, especially newcomers such as Izze, to use their product placements in ways that make stories stick.  Here are a few lessons courtesy of my childhood pal, “E.T.” :

1. Make the Moment Count – Elliot knew that Reeses Pieces would be just the thing to coax his unusual guest out of his shell.  The folks at Izze state when we “feel our best – we do our best at work”.  How much more compelling would it have been to see Izzie Stevens enjoying a refreshing Izze after a successful patient surgery?  The Izze brand also values “cultural discovery through philanthropic action” – so why not a scene depicting Izzie Stephens volunteering at a culturally-related charity event?  Either of these would have drawn me in and help me make a relevant connection between the moment and the brand.

2. Keep the Plot Going – Before jetting off in his spaceship, “E.T.” tells Elliott that he will be right back.  In 1982, social media was limited to the “Speak and Spell” mobile phone “E.T.” used to phone home.  Fortunately, we’ve come a long way since then and now “E.T.” could stay in touch with Elliott and his friends through Facebook, Twitter and his personal Tumblr blog.  I can only imagine the chatter about “E.T.s” next return.  On their website, Izze talks about pomegranate historically being used to “purge envy and hatred”.  I can’t think of a better backstory to engage the audience.  What old grudges does Izzie Stephens have that she would like to get rid of?  Some additional post-show online only videos depicting more of the story would be compelling.

3. Connect the Dots – At the end of the movie, the government official tells Elliott that when he was a little boy, he dreamed of meeting “E.T.” one day too.  He was able to share in the story between Elliott and “E.T.”  Going back to our evolving plotline, what grudges might you and I have that need expulsion?  (okay, that would be an entire blog in itself).  Ask Grey’s fans to share their envy moments that they want to purge and send them a coupon for their submissions.  Allow people to connect over similar envy purging memories.

I hope that brands will realize their potential to shape indelible stories for consumers as digital media becomes increasingly pervasive.  That gets me thinking….wonder if my Speak and Spell still works….its been a while since I phoned home.