Are “People Really Tallking About This” On Facebook?

Came across an interesting story published today in Ad Age presenting some research findings into the efficacy of Facebook engagement. Much has been made over the power of Facebook to drive conversation between brands and consumers, and now a think tank called the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute has tried to qualify Facebook engagement.

They took a snapshot of a six-week period in Oct. 2011 and used the “People Talking About This” metric as their guide. If you take away folks who just “Liked” a brand, the number of truly engaged followers is around 0.45%.  These individuals would be defined as the content creators of the Social Media world.

On its face (no pun intended) you might look at these numbers and say Facebook is a bunch of hype.  From a numbers perspective that response rate is on the low end of what you would expect from a traditional DR campaign. And, in most DR campaigns you are aiming to change behavior to drive a given response…could be visiting a website, redeeming a coupon, or calling for more information.  Behavior change doesn’t happen overnight, and given that consumer interaction with a brand involves such behavior change it’s only realistic to expect the level of engagement on Facebook to be among a small, highly-loyal group of followers. Spending time and money on convincing individuals who are already convinced doesn’t make much sense, but that’s what you’ll be doing if you focus all of your marketing effort into driving Facebook engagement according to the research.

In my opinion, what the research really makes the case for is that Facebook is a reach medium more than an engagement medium.  Facebook is a mass medium at its core.  Now, every brand needs ambassadors and Facebook is a place to find and engage them, but marketers also have to use other vehicles such as PR, e-mail marketing, SEO, traditional advertising and DM attract other potential consumers who can help grow their brand.  Relying solely on Social Media isn’t the path the profitability.  Facebook campaigns should be part of the overall marketing mix and tied back to the overall business plan. And as marketers we have to be realistic as to what Facebook (or any other form of Social Media for that matter) can and can’t do.

These shoes are causing riots!

Take a look at these shoes…these are the new Air Jordans.  Apparently people are lining up around Malls across the country to get their feet in a pair of these super-duper wheels (all for the low, low price of $180 bucks). Fights are breaking out, people are getting arrested. All over a pair of shoes.  I thought we were in a recession?  Am I missing something here?  Just goes to show you the staying power of brands…FYI Jordan retired from the NBA his third and final time in 2003….AND people are still lining up to buy his gear.  Long after he shot his final shot, we all still “Want to Be Like Mike.”

 

Some Holiday Headlines To Think About

I’ve finally caught up on some overdue reading, and I’ve come across several different factiods.

I’m gonna do this Larry King style (if you don’t know what that is, Google his weekly column).

According to USA Today, Black Friday set a record for the most firearms sold in the U.S. in a single day.  At least 130k firearms were bought Nov. 25…..32% more than the previous one-day record.  In honor of that, I suggesting listening to Pearl Jam’s song “Glorified G”. Check it out here.

According to a story published in The Week titled “Work:  Life Without Email”, by 2014, social networking will replace email as the main method of communication for 20 percent of businesses.

This month the FCC approved the CALM Act, which is designed to lower the volume on overly loud TV commercials….I just wonder who will be in charge of regulating this…are we going to have government operatives stationed in front of TVs to monitor how loud the ads are?  And, just exactly how “loud” is “loud”?…….Now if Congress could only get on to passing a deficit reduction plan and extension of the payroll tax, we’d really be cooking with gas.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year.

 

 

We Will, We Will ROCK U!

So, the Rock n’ Roll HOF has announced its slate of 2011 nominees.

Click here to link to a great story from the New York Times on all of the maneuvering that goes on behind the scenes to actually get an act into the HOF.  As one might suspect, getting into the HOF provides a great marketing and branding opportunity to drive incremental record (or MP3s if you prefer) sales for an artist.  The stakes are pretty high.  There are a few folks that I’m not sure of (Is Donna Summer a rock n’ roll artist???)…and others that I think should be there (good luck Donovan).

Anyways, check out the list and see what you think of the nominees.  If you haven’t been to Cleveland and checked out the HOF, put it on your bucket list.  Really cool place.

 

 

 

 

Attention Banks: Are you listening now?

So I read today that my bank – Bank of America – as well as several other major banks, including SunTrust, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., are canceling their proposed plans to hit their customers with debit card usage fees. According to the Associated Press many banks are doing so in response to “listening to customer feedback in recent weeks.”

Here’s what really kills me. This is what was reported in the AP regarding BofAs plans to roll out debit card fees:

“Bank of America had announced in September that it would roll out the debit card fee without first testing it in the marketplace. The bank had made the decision to roll out the fee based on internal surveys of customers.”

SO, you didn’t bother to test it externally before deciding to roll this gem of a program out? SO, are you telling me that BofA’s “internal surveys” of its customers found that people actually said “OK” great, in the WORST economy since the Great Depression we’re completely fine with you hitting us with with MORE fees for accessing OUR money.” And, I’ve got a bridge I can sell you too.

Here’s where it really gets good. So, in pulling the program a BofA spokesperson said this:

“Over the past couple of weeks, customer sentiment changed.” Ya think!

And finally, here’s what the COO of BofA said about the issue (I guess it wasn’t a big of enough deal for the CEO to comment…)

“Our customers’ voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.”

Nice words…but BofAs ACTIONS leading up to this point said completely otherwise.

And the crazy thing about this whole situation is that it was completely avoidable. How you ask? If they’d just listened to their customers BEFORE rolling something like this out to the marketplace, it could’ve spared them a lot of misery and bad press (which does impact stock price btw). Just spend the money and take the time on the front end to see if customers would be receptive to the fees or not. And, if there is going to be resistance, you can figure out a way to address it before it becomes a PR nightmare by either modifying the program or shelving it all together.

Too many times these big, bureaucratic companies default to internal “Group Think”. To give the appearance of productivity, they over-analyze these types of situations and they completely ignore what the customer really wants.

As a customer, I’m glad my bank woke up and did the right thing. As a marketer I’m surprised it even got to this point.

Of footballs and PCs…

This month marked the passing of two great leaders, who on the surface would seem to not have much in common.  One from the tech world, Steve Jobs, and Al Davis, the owner of the Oakland Raiders.

So, just what do computers and sports teams have in common you ask?  Well, as I got to reading about their lives and achievements what struck me was that both men excelled at what they did because they had a healthy obsession with their chosen profession and were driven by the pursuit of perfection.

Jobs and Davis were pioneers in their respective fields and sacrificed mightily along the way.  Both were control freaks who willingly sweated the small stuff and understood the power of branding – Apple with “Think Differently” and the Raiders’ “Just Win Baby.”  Did they ruffle a few feathers along the way.  Sure.  But just stop for a minute and think about how different the technology and entertainment industries would be without Jobs’ contributions or the NFL without Davis’ leadership.  Both men were change agents unafraid to challenge the status quo.  Did they have their share of failures along the way?  All very well documented for the history books.  Despite the obstacles they faced during the course of their careers, both men stayed true to themselves and single-handedly willed their organizations to achieve excellence and be the best they could be.  They were men of courage willing to risk it all to beat the competition and reach the pinnacle of their professions.

Here’s my run down of the Jobs/Davis connection:

-Both were obsessed with winning.

-Both built powerful brands.

-Each understood that you must get the small details right in order for the entire organization to succeed – be it designing a winning play or an iPad.

-Perfection was the ultimate goal.

May they each rest in peace knowing that they achieved remarkable feats, left tremendous legacies and built world-class organizations.

 

 

 

The mancave goes commercial

Congratulations to IKEA for commercializing the mancave.  They’ve recently installed men-only daycare areas in their stores in Australia so while wives and girlfriends go shopping, the boys can bond over X-Box and free hot dogs. IKEA calls them ManLand!  I call them Awesome.

Some may cry that this sexism in reverse. I call it brilliant and a great PR stunt.  Plus, it’s a way to get shoppers in the the door. Let’s be honest. What dude doesn’t like free hot dogs and video games?

I think someone needs to franchise the “ManLand” concept and put them in shopping malls, furniture stores, nail salons, jewelry stores and any other place a man doesn’t want to be dragged to.

Here’s a video from YouTube showcasing “ManLand”.. Bravo IKEA.  Hope to see  this in the USA soon.