01/07/2008
What Does Social Media Mean To You? is a continuing video series of Little Sound Bites of thought, insight and fun. Perhaps you'll be on the little Flip video next time we meet! Update: Video removed by request of Dave.
Dave Williams, Chief Strategist/Co-founder 360i not only shared his thoughts about social media but provided insights into how Opera , the #1 night club and events venue in Atlanta, is leveraging social networking communities to reach the youth market. Well worth a listen.
Sound Bite - Social Media Is ..
- It reminds me of the web back in 1997 .. the valuations, the interest in the space, investors that express a lot of interest in the space. It's still the wild west. I don't think anyone really knows what's next.
- Facebook is the next generation of where the new consumer, the younger generation is. Also I see it as a rapidly developing market for the older generation.
- (Facebook)Opportunities are very compelling from a marketing perspective: event postings, developing priority applications to distribute content and information.
- Most of My Space pages are similar to website pages in 1998. Like having a flaming logo on a page.
- (Our) Interns don't use My Space they only use Facebook.
Opera Promotional Strategies
Results: Over 1200 customers on Friday and Saturday nights.
- Developed proprietary widget that distributes content about new DJs
- My Space and Facebook pages
- Text messages
- Emails - data base of 25k
- Upload videos and photos to site
- MySpace and Facebook messaging
View More What Does Social Media Mean To You Interviews
Kevin Nalts, Peter Kim, David Berkowitz
Debby Ruth
Josh Hallett, Julie Squires, Chris Thornton
10/02/2006
Make new friends but keep the old
One is silver and the other gold
In another lifetime, I was a Girl Scout leader in Boston (Talk about divas' in training .. the little girls in my Brownie troops were from the Back Bay and Beacon Hill.) Make New Friends was a favorite song of my Brownies. Little did I know that years later making new friends would be a critical tactic of a marketing strategy. Girlfriend, I'm not talking building relationships I'm talking collecting friends as though they were baseball cards except you don't get to trade.
Sidebar: I'm involved with a Smash-up video campaign, Get Out Of The Dog House, that uses MySpace to hold the content and YouTube to house the videos. Read more about the back-story and how you can win over $1000 worth of GourmetStation meals delivered right to your front door.
Marketers are tentatively making their way into social media communities. First it was the blogosphere where brands are still not welcomed with hugs and kisses if they color outside the lines. With over 50 million Friends to pal around with, MySpace is a natural for marketers to explore. MySpacers seem to care less about "authenticity" and following MySpace "rules" than bloggers do about that stuff. At least the ones that I've found. If they don't like you or don't get you .. they simply don't Friend you.
Especially for marketers, Friends are very important. MySpace Friends are your entree to direct communication with your target audience. As a MySpace Friend there are four communication avenues available to you.
- Addition to the Friends Gallery
- Ability to post comments
- Ability to send bulletins
- Ability to send event notices
Friend Gallery - addition of your photo icon that links to your MySpace page. The coolest friends are shown on the top. Many a Friend Feud has been known to occur from a Friend being moved from the top box.
Comments - Unlike traditional blogs where if comments are open you can post your remarks, only Friends are allowed to post comments that appear on the front page. And comments dear Diva are where it's at. You get to be front and center for all the world to see and click to.
MySpace is a culture within a culture within a culture. Not everyone wants to be your friend (so high schoolish!) and those that do may not approve your comment if you self-promote or add HTML bling. In that sense reading a few comments before you post (a la bloggy style) is a good idea. However, many MySpacers love splashy glitter, animation and are cool about promoting their Friends' latest gig allowing huge in-your-face graphics.
Sidebar: MySpace does include a regular blog function but MySpacers don't seem to used it very often; also it's a click down. Only headlines are posted on the main page.
Bulletin - is a feature that is included in many social media communities. Bulletins are text only messages that show up only on your Friends' administrative page. They're great to use for reminders, new stuff, call to actions, to drive traffic to a MySpace, website or blog.
Event - similar to a bulletin but used to notify about performances and special live events
Caution! If you're use to reading blogs, that take their cues from structured website navigation and design, your first visit or 2nd visit or 3rd visit into MySpace will be a culture shock. Be prepared for loud, big and messy.
The 5 Marketing Cs of MySpace
- Cluttered
- Chaotic
- Crazed
- Confusing
- Creative
If you want to quickly expand beyond family and friends hop a ride on a MySpace Train - an automated system for gathering large number of friends. Dale Evans has a nice explanation of MySpace Friend Trains.
MySpace Marketing Promotions
A MySpace promotion for the film Clerks II involved putting the names of the film’s first 10,000 MySpace friends in the credits. They thought the contest would go for weeks. They had the names in two hours.
Authors using MySpace to extend their visibility and fan base.
Get Out Of The Dog House viral video campaign.
