There is no doubt that you can hardly keep up reading all the publications on the social web – from the economy, the trust, the marketing, the people, the hype, and the list goes on.

I have actually had ‘Viral Loop’ standing on my bookshelf for the last six months, before finding the time to read it.  And even though it’s not a new publication, I need to share my thoughts and recommendations with you on what I find a small timeless masterpiece by Adam L. Penenberg.

Short about the author:
Adam L. Penenberg is a Brooklyn-based journalism professor and assistant director of the Business and Economics Program at New York University. He has written for publications that include Fast Company, Inc., Forbes, the New York Times, Slate, Wired and the Economist.

Viral Loop
Interested in knowing why some make a wild-fire phenomenon of a business on the web? This book can give you a lot of answers.

Adam takes us back right after World War II when Brownie Wise, a single mother from Dearborn Michigan, who worked as a distributor for Stanley Home Products, became a vital part of the success of the company Tupperware.

Brownie Wise was the one who came up with the idea, we today know as Tupperware parties, which in short made the company sell for billions throughout the last 50 years.

Now what does this have to do with today’s business success stories on the web? Everything! The success of Tupperware parties can be explained as a double viral loop: a woman invites her community to a party, and lets say 20 attend – the 10 might buy the product, 15 tell their community about the party and 5 might even want to host a new party.

Sounds a lot like how Marc Andressen’s newest project Ning is driven. Ning is a platform, where you can build your own community. So lets say I build a community of people who love cheese. Out of the 100 friends I invite, 60 join my network, 5 even like it so much they start their own Ning networks, and invite their friends to that network – a double viral loop.

Adam takes us with focus on viral loops and the formula for viral coefficient (also known as the viral factor), through a long string of business cases and stories behind the cases. From the well known story of Marc Andressen’s first viral company Netscape – the company who put Mr. Andressen up between the three most significant people in the development of what we know today as the World Wide Web, to the less known stories behind ‘HOT or NOT’, ‘ROCKYOU’ or the success of the social network Bebo until AOL destroyed it after buying it from the founding and married couple Michal and Xoxhi Birch.

Ad a 10-15 more case stories to the list – think you get the picture.

Finally, I will just quote the words of Seth Godin and Jeff Jarvis who praise the book.

‘In tight engaging prose, Penneberg captures the essence of the ever-scaling power of the virus. It’s not just for geeks anymore’ – Seth Godin

‘Penneberg discovers the perpetual motion machine for business and marketing… Buy this book. Catch a virus. Make a fortune.’ Jeff Jarvis

I can’t promise that you’ll make a fortune, but I promise you it will be a thought-opener, and you will most likely catch a virus.

Last but not least – visit Viralloop.com – and try out the widget, it’s part of Penneberg playing with the idea of a New Ad Unit on the web – will not spoil this part – read the book!

You may also feel like reading:

» The Tipping Point And Social Media

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This is an easy reading post about an easy way of using social media – in this case Twitter.

When realizing how many people who tweet about Toblerone chocolate, the company have started to convert this into their advertising. Toblerone has created a banner that incorporates people’s real-time descriptions about their chocolates. This way they get an ad that are automatically updated with tweets about the product.

The banner features words commonly used to describe the experience. Users can interact by selecting different words and reading the tweets. They can retweet the messages or post about Toblerone themselves and see it pop up on the banner. Twitter not only gives you the ability to search and listen to what your customers have to say, you get the advantage of using it to find your ambassadors who can speak for you and your product.

I often come down to a certain point about the value of using social media as a tool for marketing – Trust. Do we rely on the TV ads that tell us they have the best products or are we more likely turn into potential customers when we read something like this:

@randyiponk: wow white chocolate toblerone with honey and almond nougat is very delicious!!!!

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I have been looking at a list of the most visited sites on the web on Alexia.com.

It makes sense that google features as no 1, as many people use it as their primary search engine and use it as an everyday online tool.

Besides search engines, there are several social networking sites placed in the top. Facebook and YouTube come in as no 2 and 3 respectively. Twitter comes in as no 12.

Since I work with social media, this doesn’t really come as a surprise to me as I am convinced of its scope and great potential. But for those many social media scepticals out there, who still believe that Facebook is just a flash in the pan, I think the numbers speak for itself.

On a global scale, the most visited sites are:
1. google.com
2. facebook.com
3. youtube.com
4. yahoo.com
5. live.com
6. wikipedia.com
7. blogger.com
8. baidu.com
9. msn.com  
10. qq.com

For businesses and brands, social networking sites is the golden opportunity to meet  customers or just connect with people where they already are online. Today, people look for brands to identify with and by meeting this, brands can assist in people’s online identity building whereas the brands get some valuable attention and word-of-mouth in return.

When I look at the most visited sites I think the tendencies in online behavior is obvious. People value the social aspect of the web. We share videos on Youtube, we communicate ourselves on blogs and use services such as blogger and wordpress, we and use services such as msn and Yahoo to reach out to other people.

The social web is very much a fact and the large sites such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Twitter know how to take advantage of it by building on the social aspects and collaborating across platforms.

The rest of us can only try to follow their lead.

Check out the top sites for your country.

You may also feel like reading:
» Online Collaborations Between Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo and Google
» On A Positive Note About Companies and Social Media

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A while back I wrote the first post about digital identity ‘Digital identity – We Create Ourselves‘. It was about how everyone from  ‘normal’ to hardcore tech and internet people create themselves online. This support their identity – not only online but it even empowers their offline identity, some without even thinking about it.

Join the social media locomotion

We are all doing it! Just look at what pages you join on Facebook. Why join the Facebook pages ‘I like when people smile at me’,  ‘happy people are the shit’ or ‘running makes my world go around’. Now, all these mentioned pages are just made up, but I bet you have joined a page almost like it, and why? – Because it adds something to your online identity.

During the last two years of wild fire spread of social networks, blogging sites and Twitter, it became easy for everybody to send a clear signal of who you are and what your passion is about.

Take for instance, the young mother, who updates her Facebook status ten times a week telling her network and the world how much she loves and adores her children and husband. And you probably have one of those people in your network, who constantly feel the need to update you on his of her running game -because running is the new black

People who say that this online creation of identity is fake, or that offline is going to be the next big hit – I just don’t get it. The creation of our identity is deeply rooted in our DNA. It’s human nature to expose ourselves, create ourselves, dream big about ourselves. And we will not stop using this great opportunity.

Using social media as a brand

So as a company or brand, you should start thinking about how you can tap in and give something to people’s identities. For example when you hire, look for truly passionate people. They will show themselves to you on social networks, in communities, on forums or their own blogs.

When you think of marketing, forget the old idea of marketing to the masses. Instead, tap into the people that are already passionate about what you do. They will spread the word for you, and it’s going to be a personal recommendation in a advertising free environment.

But do it properly. Please don’t just make another Facebook application that tries to rip personal data, so you can spam people – and the app being a total disappointment.

A best-practise case

One of the strongest cases of tapping into identity is Nike (oh no not again, well yes!).  A whole lot of brands could tap into running, but Nike that does it the best way. I will just share some thoughts about a small but brilliant fraction of the social identity platform they made, and this will also be the follow up on a post I wrote in what feels like ages ago – ‘Testing Nike Training widget – part 1´.

In September last year, my girlfriend wanted to start running, and she looked around for things to motivate her. It did not take long before she got hooked on the Nike+ iPod system as it gave her something that could measure and keep track of her progress. But she also wanted to bring it to her social network – one of the highest motivation factors in running is sharing it with your network. She quickly discovered a Nike widget to add to her Facebook profile. It’s a small customisable avatar that jumps when you have been running and just sits there to give you a bad consciousness when you are not running, because everyone can see it on your profile. It will keep track of her running and it’s her constant motivation to get out there. Once it hits 250 km, it even gets a new cooler jersey

What Nike really understands is to give people something that not only brings value to their running game. It also provides a vital part of building a digital identity. Everyone in your Facebook network who visits your page (and remember we all stalk and stick our noses in each others’ pages) is able to see how well you’ve been doing on your running game!

There is a million more good and bad cases of brands and companies tapping into people’s online identity – if your company or brand is not doing it yet – it’s about time you look into it!

If you got this far reading this post, it means you are very interested in the subject, so please share any thoughts or good cases with us. You are interested maybe even passionate on the subject – please take a moment to create yourself.

Maybe you also feel like reading:

» Digital Identity – We Create Ourselves
» On A Positive Note About Companies And Social Media

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It’s Friday afternoon and this calls for some celebration. Especially since our friends at Tactile Entertainment is ready with the game they developed called Pocket Creatures.

For about a year, Mindjumpers has been sharing office space together with Tactile Entertainment, who develops gaming experiences for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch platforms.

For the same period of time, we have been closely following the process of the development of a game. At the office while working, we have been listening to the funny and strange sounds from the creatures (i.e the game creatures and not the guys).

Game Features

In Pocket Creatures you follow your very own creature from the moment where it hatches from its egg. From there on you explore the surroundings on the exotic island. It is up to you to decide what the creature should eat or when it should sleep. As you explore and interact with surroundings, you can influence the creature’s behaviour, provide it with abilities and make it thrive.

Also, the game itself has a social twist as you can challenge and compete with friends in earning achievements.

Using Social Media

From early on in the process, Tactile has been using social media in developing their game. Through the participation in forums, they have been able to involve and connect with people – or their tribe – to get valuable input in developing game features. Also, they run a blog, a Facebook page and Twitter account where people have followed their working process.

Through their use of social media they have been able to create awareness around the game even before its release. For instance they have received valuable input from their Facebook fans in deciding the name of the game. By making a status update they got a lot of input and dialogue and ended up in choosing one of the suggested names. This way people already have a sense of ownership of the game and act as ambassadors. I think this will prove to be valuable when Pocket Creatures hits the market soon.

At Mindjumpers, we think the guys at Tactile has done a great job in getting in touch with their tribe and use dialogue to the benefit of the game. I want to have my own creature soon.

Watch this nice trailer they made:

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Social networks and online communities offer great possibilities for organisations and companies to connect with new and existing users, customers, supporters, donors etc. For NGOs, charities or companies, who want to show their corporate social responsibility social media is a very attractive tool.

Social media has a global scope and each person you connect with has the power to pass your message on and to become an ambassador for your cause.

Compared to other media running campaigns on social media is cheap. All you need is time and consistency along with a few good ideas and a good knowledge about how people interact on social media. 

Social media allows your organisation to be open and transparent. You are in the unique position of possessing stories that require no spin or false marketing in order to make an impact.

In this slide show we’ve had a look at some social good campaigns that NGOs, charities and companies have done successfully on social media.

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To promote the new 2011 Fiesta car, Ford has launched the Fiesta Movement campaign. People in the US have applied to become one of the so called agents of the 20 teams that compete against each other by using their own creativity to show their experience of the car. The rest of the social media audience get to be the judge and decide who’s the most talented. The teams are located across the country and they are collaborating with creative talents at their local area to complete missions and host events. The winners get, not very surprising, their own Ford Fiesta.

The teams can be followed at Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo and their personal blogs. They use the social networks to find the creative artists at their local area and to spread the word of what they do. Ford takes a step away from their competitor by letting their fans do the work of advertising. By having teams in different cities they increase the level of competition and get a nationwide campaign. The purpose is to prepare the American market for the release of the 2011 Fiesta.

Ford has realized that people trust people like themselves. The car salesman got his share of fun and his time is over. Fake smiles and excessive stories are not the kind of advertising that speaks to our heart and makes us rely on the quality of the product. We listen to our friends and our friends’ friends. Ordinary people around us. With help of the agents, Ford build communities where people want to help each other out. They take advantage of the heart in social networks – to be part of something. The agents represent “one of us”.

The campaign has just been launched, but we could follow Ford’s first successful version of the Fiesta campaign last year. Here are some of the first campaign’s results:

- 4.3 million YouTube views
– 500,000+ Flickr views
– 3 million+ Twitter impression
– 50,000 interested potential customers, 97% of which didn’t own a Ford currently.

In social media campaigns where companies use people from outside to be representatives, they choose people with a great social network and those who have experience with blogging and using social media. Don’t be afraid to use people with personality and outstanding character. When these people get to transform your message into their own creation – their passion and spontaneity will talk directly to your costumers’ hearts.

You may also like to read this blog posts:

» Guest Blog: Why Businesses Can’t Say No to Social Media
» Skype Proves Great Use Of Social Media

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If you’re on Facebook, you have probably noticed the new design. Part of the new design includes that you can see an overview of applications. This small blog post is just a reminder of some of Facebook’s functionalities and how protect your privacy.

Many of you probably get invitations for applications from your friends and use a certain number of applications too – for instance to show cities you’ve visited, food you like, or causes you support. There are literally applications for everything.

Part of the new Facebook design lets you see an overview of recently used applications as well as your friend’s applications. And that is maybe something you don’t really think of when you accept an application. The positive side of it is the fact that you can see what your friends are doing and discover new applications along the way.

For instance I can see that some of the recently used applications among my friends are:
– Are YOU interested?
– What was number one when you were born?
– Friend Facts

And then I can see who of my friends have used the applications. But I’m just thinking…. maybe my friends aren’t necessarily that interested in me knowing everything.

So, remember that you can always edit you privacy settings and choose what kind of information you feel like sharing. In the applications settings you can edit the settings for each application, including whether or not that application should publish to your wall or send you notifications. It is also possible to delete those applications you have added before but don’t really feel like keeping.

Personally I test a lot of different applications, but I also remove them from my profile again.

» How To Interact With Your Fans On Facebook
» A Guide On Whether To Use Facebook Page Or Groups

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Normally this blog is in English, but we’ve decided to write in our native language; Danish, when it doesn’t make sense to do it in English. This post is about a new Danish campaign called Knoll from a supermarket chain. The campaign has a series of TV adverts along with a Facebook page and shows a great way to use Facebook. If you can’t live without knowing more, send us a mail, and we will send you a translation.

Som sagt så gjort – nogen gange må man bare tage sin lille krøllede kasket af og løfte pænt på den. Folkene fra Føtex deres bureauer Århuskontoret (universet) og In2media.dk (onlineunivers og facebook integration)  har efter min mening lavet en fantastisk kampagne. ikke blot universet, men også deres brug af Facebook.

Tag det legendariske Polle fra Snave-univers, send dem ud på en øde ø (vel at mærke det ene af de to steder i verden, hvor solen aldrig skinner), fuld skrue på tv og pump skidtet godt og grundigt op på Facebook – vel at mærke på den rigtige måde – så har vi en af den kommende tids mest opmærksomhedsskabende kampagner i Danmark.

Første film fra universet rullede over tv skærmen i fredags og sparkede kampagnen i gang, og det lover absolut godt. Jeg vil dog i denne lille blog post koncentrere mig om kampagnes brug af Facebook.

Besøg knolo.dk – og efter at den har loadet ’brunlige nuancer’ etc., har du mulighed for at logge på sitet med Facebook connect. Gør det, oplevelsen er rigtig sjov.

Vi har tidligere på udenlandske kampagner set mulighederne i Facebook connect udnyttet på en rigtig sjov måde. Et par enkelte forsøg er det blevet til i Danmark, men ikke nogen med den store succes.

Ganske simpelt er det, der sker, når du logger på med Facebook connect, at den henter lidt info om dine venner, nogle billeder etc. og kommer skidtet ind i konteksten på sitet. Således bliver du featured på forsiden af ’Knolø Udpost’, eller bliver den ’Desperate single, der søger samliv’.

Når man kigger rundt, er der diverse links til både at dele dine historier på Facebook, men også links til fem forskellige Facebook sider, ”Knolø – en perle i naturen”, ”Roen – hele madpyramiden i en knold”, ”Jeg elsker bare smør”, ”Ølev eller Elev” og den mere samfunds- og samtidsaktuelle ”Folk der går med Le er idioter” – hvilket åbenbart er et stort problem på knolø Mon ikke et par af disse Facebooksider nok skal få en del fans og tilføre kampagnen en massiv viral spredning uden for reklameblokkenes lydjingler.

En anden lille detalje er seedingen af kampagnen. Det er godt set og tænkt at involvere de mange Føtex-ansatte, således kan du se på Facebooksiden Knolø, der allerede har mere end 6500 fans, at en masse medarbejdere rundt omkring inviterer venner i et væk. Kommentarer som ”250 invitationer udsendt herfra.. – håber lidt på de der påskeæg nu..” vidner om, at der er sat påskeæg på højkant til Føtexmedarbejdere, hvis siden får 100.000 fans. Dette er ikke nogen hemmelighed, idet der på siden står: ”Alle bliv fan af Knolø – en perle i naturen 100.000 og der er gratis påskeæg til alle føtexmedarbejdere. Hjælp os! ” Det fortæller ikke blot om et højt medarbejderengagement på kampagnen, men også om en rigtig god måde at få skudt kampagnen af sted på Facebook til det danske folk, med et par graders adskillelse kender vi vel alle en, der arbejder hos Føtex

Alt i alt en rigtig god og interessant kampagne, som jeg absolut vil anbefale at kigge nærmere på.

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The thing about social media marketing is the social part. When companies stepped into the social media platforms there was a great number of companies that followed. Everyone had to do what their competitors did. Facebook pages and other accounts were created without any clear purpose or strategy. This often results in fans and followers who already are loyal customers. They join and then they disappear without visiting the page more than once. Here are some advice on what you can do to interact with your fans to maintain and expand your online community along with examples of companies who’ve succeeded.

Care
Dove created their Facebook page Dove Self-Esteem Fund to educate and inspire girls to build a stronger self-esteem and get a wider definition of beauty. They encourage people to start workshops and join self-esteem organizations. They focus on the company’s beliefs instead of promoting products.
When creating a Facebook page, have in mind to share more than company and product information. What’s your company all about? Build a community of people who share your beliefs. The interest will hold the community together. Focus on what your company represents and let your product itself be a bit out of the spotlight.

Reply
I see a lot of companies that share links or updates and get great response such as comments and like’s – but they never reply. This is not interaction. This is advertising. If you want to show your interest in your fans and let them know that you actually read what they are saying to you – reply. Answer. Give their comments a “like”. Dell is one of those companies that show that even with more than a hundred thousand people, you can interact and reply.

Help
Asos, the online fashion webshop, is always ready to assist their fans when they have problems or questions. With Asos Helpers they try to explain the cause of the problems, answer questions and help out when needed.
Help your fans if they have a problem with your product or if they have any questions about your company. Give them answers and try to solve what otherwise could be a loss of a customer. Every once a while we make mistakes that could put the company’s appearance on the line and we’re all aware of word-of-mouth. If you quickly respond and admit your slip – the problem is gone. To make mistakes and admit them makes you human – and people want to talk to humans, not logos.

Co-Create
Vitamin Water proves to be a good example of how to use co-creation as bait. They let their fans compete to name and create a flavour for a new Vitamin Water drink. A new product has now been produced with help from their fans.
By collaborating with your fans you let them know how important they are. You get an active audience and a database of new and honest ideas from your customers. Collaborations are also a great way to get people to visit your page rather than just becoming fans and then disappearing. Let your audience want to go to your page by creating something amusing to do.

When developing your strategy for using social media as a marketing tool, keep in mind how you are going to use it to make it as effective as possible. If you have any other advice or tips about companies using Facebook successfully, you are welcome to share.

Maybe you also feel like reading:

» Spice Up Your Facebook Page

» A Guide On Wether To Use Facebook Page or Groups

» 5 Tips for Increasing Community Engagement

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