Kerisma

The Face of the Year – Is YOU!

Mark Zuckerberg must be proud showing off his face to the world as the Person of the Year for 2010 in the new Time magazine cover. At the end of the day, people young and old want to be recognized, express themselves, be acknowledged for their ideas and thoughts, connect with friends, or ask others their opinions. Each appeases to one’s emotions, concerns, and make us feel welcomed by the crowd. In the beginning, as depicted in the movie The Social Network, the growth of Facebook was due to college students that craved a connection to be part of an exclusive community. Who’s the face of the year? It would have to be YOU and how advertisers and brands increased their tactics this past year to appeal to you and your connections on Facebook.

For many brands and advertisers trying to appeal to Generation Y using Facebook, a recent study concludes they are failing in their approach. The Nielsen Norman Group put together a research report to address College Students on the Web focused on Generation Y’s interests and uses of social media. As quoted in MediaPost’s article Social Networks No Place For Marketing To College Crowd, “While it’s no surprise that organizations targeting college students try to reach them on the web, they’re mistaken if they think the best path is through social networking sites,” noted Jakob Nielsen, principal of Nielsen Norman. Students find it easier to accomplish what they seek using search-engines, rather than turning to social media sites for the answers. “Sites like Facebook are simply not the first place that college students think to visit to get information about organizations,” states Nielsen.

College students enjoy chatting with friends and family on social sites sharing new discoveries and/or pictures, but the results of the research suggests that Gen Y is not keen with clicking on certain links from advertisers, or brands to Share This, without a clear understanding what he/she will gain from making a specific connection. The belief by most marketers is if college students are using Facebook, then they want to seek out our brand to connect. Right? Is that really the case for Gen Y, or for others? Many people fear they will be “taken advantage” by marketers. Some complain that it doesn’t make sense to pay attention to the information being shared, or perhaps others may ‘Like,’ ‘Follow,’ or ‘Share This’ for a short-lived promotional offer. A good marketer, or community manager should ask if the information is relevant to the audience, and what drives the audience to take action in the long-term to share his/her interests or thoughts with others?

Every Breath You Take,
Every Move You Make,
I’ll Be Watching You!

As consumers become more savvy with the web and the popularity of smartphones expands, there is also an increase in how personal identifiable information is collected and shared with connections, companies and/or advertisers. Is it to improve the user experience and offer better customer service? Or, do some customers think the information tracking their every move online and now off-line, could be threatening his/her privacy, security, or could create some other potential risk? Recently, the government intervened a Do Not Track proposal directed to advertisers. Additionally, companies such as Facebook have created outrage with new innovations to their products that turned off audiences for fear his/her information was shared with strangers or advertisers for financial gain.

MediaPost’s article, Dramatic Rise In College Students Tweaking Facebook Privacy Settings, highlights a study by social media researchers Danah Boyd and Eszter Hargittai suggesting, “virtually all of the respondents (98%) had changed their privacy settings at least once, while more than half had done so at least four times.” The aspect of controlling one’s privacy and the amount of information made public on social sites and mobile applications continues to be raised.

Scan This, Share This, Facebook Us, Tweet Me – Is it Too Much?

As people mature from one stage of life into another, marketers and technical developers must keep in mind with new product offerings and promotions issues around tracking, consumer rights, as well as privacy a concern to customers and new government regulations. People may want to change information that was once made public in college to being private. This could have implications for one to have immediate access to these control measures, as well as it could impact a shift in one’s business model to earn money. As changes continue to occur with social media tools and other mobile applications evolve in the marketplace, the check-in could potentially check-out, unless the proper education and long-term value is brought to the attention of the audience.

Nielsen’s findings elaborated on ways for marketers to adjust their approach to ‘Share This’ or ‘Like’ that when connecting with college students:

1. “Feedback from my friends is always close.” Give an opportunity for others to receive feedback from friends on areas such as purchasing decisions. Instead of ‘Share This’ explicitly say, “What do your friends think?” Look at what the audiences continues to bring up in their conversations using social media and provide them with the answers. Or, create a larger forum for people to come together on a particular topic.
2. “If I can’t find what I am looking for fast, look somewhere else.” Gen Y like others are fickle when finding something online fast. Ease-of-navigation, limit the amount of clicks to get where one needs to go, and implement clean design that helps to make the discovery process more efficient and enjoyable to find what one seeks.
3. “There are companies that are honest, and those that will try to trick you.” People want valuable information, good resources, and ways to connect with others. However, one doesn’t want to provide his/her information at the expense that it could later turn into an open invitation for marketers to be bothersome. This could make one feel threatened that he/she maybe held captive to future promotional campaigns that offer too much clutter of content. People realize that some marketers require too much information that isn’t necessary at the initial stage of interaction with a product or service offering.

Social media will continue to thrive, change and be a cool place for the college crowd, as well as others to connect. Stay away from surprising the audience, as Zuckerberg learned quickly from the people and the media backlash against Facebook with its new product launches, privacy controls and speculation on new tactics used to monetize the site. Be sure to follow digital best practices to examine the design and provide useful content and resources. It’s important to be upfront with audiences that helps to build trust and empower them to take action to building more valuable connections.

“Social media and community marketing will fundamentally change marketing’s role in customer communication. The need to foster deeper social interaction and intimacy requires B2B marketers to look far beyond the front of the sales pipeline and use Web 2.0 tactics to engage customers in mutually beneficial business activity. Instead of heaping social activity onto an overflowing plate, socially savvy marketers use technology to streamline lead management; close the loop with sales; and free up time to listen to, talk with, and embrace community members for the long haul.”
Making Social Media Work in B2B Marketing , Laura Ramos, Analyst Forrester Oct. 2008)

“Effective online marketing is not about buying access through advertising or begging the media to write about your company and its products and services. Instead it is about creating great content (websites, press releases, blogs, podcasts, videos, etc.that the search engines reward with high rankings, which will drive people to your stuff. I suggest that when people are faced with the inevitable push back from executives about “the ROI thing” to ask the executives a few questions: 1) Have you answered a direct mail ad? (Nearly all answer “No.”) 2) Have you used Google or another search engine? (Nearly all answer “Yes.”).”
- The New Rules of Marketing & PR, David Meerman Scott, it has been the top selling PR and marketing book since its release in June 2007)

Although B2B companies are lagging behind their B2C counterparts, more and more B2B companies are starting to take notice of the value of Web 2.0 and influencing buyer decisions. People are seeking the web for information about businesses, products, reviews and first-hand accounts from others in the industry. The more B2B companies that start using the new means of social media technology and look to connect with people should reap the rewards. The lack of use from some has been around the validity of the metrics to measure the viral influence and connection to sales. “While they see webinars, microsites, and rich media apps delivering qualified leads, respondents scratch their heads about the value that viral video and social network marketing provide, with 31% saying it is “too early to tell” for social networks and 68% saying the same for video marketing (Making Social Media Work in B2B Marketing, Forrester Oct. 2008).” Yet, one can’t let all the metrics in the world take precedence but it’s also important to speak and reach out directly to your customers, provide a two-way dialogue to learn more about their emotional attachment and use of your brand. Think of ways of incorporating new technology to spread the message, but also don’t get too carried away with all this new knowledge and developments on the horizon. Test and see what works best for your brands and become the expert in your market. Make a point to read and learn about what others are using and what new trends are shaping on the digital frontier in your industry. Don’t be afraid to try and encourage your advertisers the same with your products and services.