Social Media

Spring has sprung and along with it a ton of exiting Social TV News. April was a wild month that included record-breaking premieres, flashy media upfronts, election developments and historic, digital signs of the times. Below are some of our favorite highlights from the past 30 days.

1. Game of Thrones breaks GetGlue. HBO kicked off the month by flexing their social muscles for the premiere of Game of Thrones Season 2. There was so much activity that the show drove multiple worldwide trending topics on Twitter and for crashing GetGlue’s servers (momentarily) on premiere night.
2. Psych-ed to hit 100K. While networks typically focus their marketing efforts on premieres, USA Network’s hit show Psych had thousands of reasons to cheer for the finale of Season 6 as they passed 100K Twitter followers. To share their appreciation, USA Network (a 360i client) and the cast of Psych produced personal and sincere thank you messages that were shared via @Psych_USA.
3. NBC & the first digital Olympic Games. 360i client NBC Sports excited millions of fans when they confirmed that London 2012 will indeed be the first-ever digital Olympic Games by announcing that the network will be live-streaming all 32 events from London and connecting fans to the action via social media.
4. Social takes center stage at BET Upfront. BET’s social presences have consistently stood out among their entertainment peers. Take for example @106andpark which, with 4MM followers, is a social TV powerhouse on Twitter. To further draw attention to their success, BET put social front and center at their upfront and took time to discuss their goal to provide the best digital environment possible to their viewers. Read the full article »

Since the Mad Men era, the widely held perception has been that consumers are only influenced by advertisements of shiny celebs and models – but social media and the rise of a new sect of influencers is turning this notion on its head.

Recent research shows that consumers would rather receive marketing messages from bloggers or influencers that they are familiar with than a celebrity. Moreover, this preference ultimately affects their purchasing behavior (53% of female readers have bought a product based on a recommendation from a blogger).

Cool Whip is using real moms as part of its latest campaign that puts bloggers front and center.

In a recent article for Social Media Explorer, Stephanie Schwab discusses the evolving role of bloggers to “celebrities” featured in paid advertising. This growing trend, if executed properly, allows advertisers to borrow influence from established online influencers trusted as experts in their field.

Read the full article »

For many teens, the pinnacle of ‘Happiness’ would be hanging out with their favorite pop star – of course few people are ever afforded such an opportunity. Well, this dream is about to become a reality for seven lucky teens thanks to 360i client Coca-Cola and Google+.

As part of Coca-Cola and American Idol’s ‘Perfect Harmony’ program – in which fans can help singer Jason Derulo pen his next big hit – the brand has picked a handful of teens to participate in a live chat on the Coca-Cola Google+ page. You can watch the chat LIVE tonight at 7 p.m. EST, as Jason answers fan questions and takes live ones from the Coca-Cola community.

Image via College Candy

Coca-Cola hosted its first Google+ hangout in February. The broadcast featured archivists from the brand who fielded questions from the Coca-Cola archives. The brand, which touts one of the largest corporate presences on Facebook, has more than half a million fans on Google+.

Earlier this month, Google rolled out its ‘Hangouts on Air’ feature to all Google+ users. This update allows any G+ member to publicly broadcast a hangout for their network to see – either within the Google+ stream, from a website or from a YouTube channel.

Last week, Tumblr decided to throw their hat in the ring and start selling ads on their platform. Perhaps because they’ve had a chance to observe Facebook as they have publicly iterated on the core value proposition of their advertising products, Tumblr has skipped those steps and come out with a very clear stance on what they’re selling and who can buy it.

Image via CNETAt fMC, Facebook launched new ad products that enabled marketers to easily port the content they were already publishing on Facebook into advertising units. Facebook had already been selling advertising for quite some time though. The announcements at fMC were an effort to align marketers with Facebook’s vision for their platform and encourage them to focus on the content they were creating for their fans first and foremost.

Read the full article »

While advertisers have been flocking to Facebook – especially in light of media opportunities introduced at fMC earlier this year – measuring the impact of their efforts relative to other channels has left some media folks scratching their heads. A Wall Street Journal article published yesterday explores the sense of “doubt” some marketers feel toward their media investment within the world’s largest social network.

Graphic via the Wall Street Journal

Although Facebook has built out a full suite of media opportunities to bolster its $3 billion-a-year ad business, Suzanne Vranica and Shayndi Raice of the WSJ argue that “some marketers … are wondering whether they’re getting their money’s worth.” It’s a fair question – especially given Facebook’s impending IPO purported to happen later this month. By the way, Facebook’s valuation is projected to be nearly $100 billion – or 33x the company’s ad revenue, according to Vranica and Raice.

Yet more than doubt, advertisers are experiencing a sense of confusion regarding how media impact within Facebook can and should be measured. The discussion and debate surrounding social media ROI is nothing new – it’s a topic we’ve been hearing about for years – but it does take on a different weight as brands continue to up their investment in Facebook.

For example, one marketer featured in the WSJ piece cites that while he is increasing his investment, he’s still unsure of if an ad on the platform will lead to an eventual sale. Some brands, like Ford, have conducted research to tie social investment to sales and found that Facebook media can in fact provide a boost to sales. There is widespread agreement that social media is effective in helping reach such goals; however, marketers continue to wonder to what degree social media is driving the sale.

But is this the right way to evaluate success on Facebook? As 360i President Sarah Hofstetter notes in the article, Facebook might not be the right platform for marketers who measure ROI as direct sales from the Web. “If the goal is to move the needle on brand health metrics, whether its awareness or engagement, then Facebook should be a key part of the marketing mix for most consumer brands,” she says.

Read the full article »

Social media has had a way of disrupting industries over the past five years, with the world of fashion being no different. The unique operational cycles of luxury fashion labels (i.e. the time lapse between runway shows and actual product availability) are being challenged by a real-time environment where bloggers and socially savvy fashion enthusiasts can drum up interest in a designer or particular look overnight.

Fashion aficionados are increasingly sharing their favorite styles and brands via social platforms like Pinterest (shown above).

What’s more, the proliferation of consumer content on emerging platforms like Pinterest and Tumblr, and within social shopping sites like Polyvore, is changing the way designers view their brand identity. Labels previously exclusive and “closed” are becoming more open to sharing content across multiple social platforms.

Inspired by the SXSW panel entitled “Who Needs Fashion Cycle? I’ve Got Social Media,” this post outlines three key ways social media has disrupted the luxury fashion cycle as we know it, and what marketers in this space can do to get ahead of the trend to better reach their customers.

1. The real time web is speeding up the traditional fashion communications cycle, sparking consumer interest from the moment products hit the runway.
Ten years ago the fashion communication cycle was highly controlled. Fashion houses put on two major shows per year – private events for 1,000 to 2,000 industry insiders. Photographs from the shows did not reach the general public for six months, when they were seen in the pages of fashion glossies at the same time apparel was made available in stores. This communication flow aligned with the fashion operations cycle post-show, during which buyers and designers coordinated their orders and created the pieces over the next six months before going to market.

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You know those social symbols found across nearly every TV spot and program these days? As it turns out, people actually notice them. A recent Accenture study of US TV viewers found that nearly two-thirds of consumers have recalled a social media graphic while watching television, and one in three viewers have made the next step of interacting with social media after seeing a symbol.

A TV spot for “The Chronicle” prompts viewers to interact via YouTube and Twitter.

These findings are promising for brands actively marketing their social channels through on-air advertising, and even better news for TV networks and programmers — but the question remains: How can marketers move viewers from recognition to engagement?

First, let’s take a look at some of the key findings from the study:

• The greatest motivator for viewers to visit a social presence while watching TV is to obtain more information about a show or product. Scoring coupons and promotions/contests were also strong motivators, indicating that while consumers are “connecting” to brands via social channels, engagement and social interaction are not often what they are instinctively seeking.
• Demographics also factor into the propensity of a viewer to interact with social media while watching TV. More than 60 percent of respondents 18-24 said they have interacted with a social platform or app while watching; less than half of respondents 24-44 reported this behavior. This trend continues through the older demographics.
• Conversations around programming and sharing content were the least interesting action to consumers while watching TV. As digital natives, Millennials are comfortable connecting to brands via social, but they are still interested in receiving the same value as those twice their age. As viewers grow more accustomed to social’s on-air integration, it’s important to keep in mind that many times they are looking for added, differentiated or exclusive content that’s not a carbon copy of what they see on the screen.
• One of the most important findings from the study was that most people avoid interacting with brands via social during TV viewing because they are not aware of what they will get in return. Viewers want to know that liking you on Facebook, tweeting with a specific hashtag or voting via QR code will actually provide value to them.

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