Zócalo Group president/CEO, Paul M. Rand, is featured in the article, alongside clients Subway, Nissan and Frito-Lay.

“When the internet and then social media came into the picture, brand advocacy, which used to be a one-on-one thing, ended up becoming supercharged and the megaphone became much larger.”

Knowing that within social networks, consumers create 500 billion impressions on one another by talking about products and services each year¹, it becomes apparent that authentic engagement among fans is vital.

And with only 16% of the US population responsible for 80% of those impressions¹, it’s important to start thinking about brand advocacy as a critical part of the social media marketing mix.

To create a great program, a good social media campaign can help. A 2011 survey from Chief Marketer recaps some of the key reasons to focus on social media as a way to develop brand advocacy among consumers.

eMarketer subscribers can download the full report, “Brand Advocates: Scaling Social Media and Word of Mouth” by clicking here.

¹ Forrester, Peer Influence Analysis, April 20, 2010.

As a culture, we love the idea of “mini” – from puppies to babies to mini M&M’s ® to miniature golf — we are fascinated by the idea that regular-sized stuff…  can be made into smaller-sized stuff.

And with that, this week’s Hit comes from our neighbors to the north, Canada.  Together with ReThink Canada, the Metro Newspaper released a QR code in quite an adorable fashion – on a mini newspaper stand.  The QR code is meant to promote the newspaper’s mobile edition app and consumers could either pick up their daily paper copy, or simply scan the mini code with their smartphone for the online edition.  While there have been small ads before, who doesn’t enjoy a teeny newspaper stand to start their day?

 #BrandHitLearnings

• Connect offline with online: the Metro took advantage of the fact that their readers would already be picking up their paper on the street – and that these readers would probably have a smartphone handy.  They took an inherently offline activity and seamlessly connected it with their mobile web presence.  Too often we get a bit too focused on what can be done digitally, within the parameters of Facebook or Twitter or a microsite – consumers clearly live offline, so why not connect with them there?
• QR codes can still be used effectively: What the Metro did fabulously well is have a QR code that actually went somewhere.  Too often, brands use these codes to simply bring consumers to their generic site, or even a microsite where it’s not clear what they’re supposed to do.  If you’re going to utilize this technology, make sure that there are clear action steps for your consumer to take…  and make it interesting in the process.

Since our post last week about NATO trends, we’ve compiled NATO conversation from May 11^th through May 22^nd.  Take a look:

CONVERSATION: We tracked various hashtags like #NATO, #noNATO, #Chicago2012 and keywords like NATO and Chicago, NATO Summit, etc.  A total of over 424,000 mentions of the NATO Summit were posted to various social media platforms.  Twitter was the platform of the weekend with almost 370,000 tweets about the Summit.  Facebook was a distant second with over 23,000 posts.

TIMING: No surprise – the use of NATO keywords spiked during the height of the Summit and protest activity on May 20^th and 21^st.  News media, protesters and spectators were all watching events as they progressed over the weekend.

KEYWORDS: Host city Chicago was mentioned the most within NATO online conversation, followed by popular hashtags #NATO and #noNATO.

All images courtesy of Radian6 monitoring platform.

With the addition of social media and in-the-moment reporting, the general public was able to know when and where specific events were taking place this weekend and respond with their own thoughts online.  Social media played a big part in how the NATO Summit was received beyond just viewing the nightly news.  How will social media continue to change live events and political activism?  Any predictions?      

 
Give Me A Break.. From Social Media

Mott’s And The Applesauce Woes It sometimes seems like there’s a new social media platform out every month, doesn’t it?  Then there’s the inevitable need to join it and see what it’s all about and wouldn’t you know it now you’re active on 20 different platforms on a daily basis.  A person could get tired!  Well here’s where Kit Kat has generously stepped in, joining the ranks of professional services like Vitrue and Buddy Media.  The Kit Kat Social Break allows you to automatically respond to Facebook posts and tweets, without actually reading through each one.  As Kit Kat says, “Simply turn on the widget, log into your social media accounts and tune out from the stress of social networking whenever you feel you need a break.”  The app is available for download now – do you need a break?

#BrandHit Learnings:

• Have fun with your messaging: Kit Kat’s tagline is “Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar,” with their popular “Give me a break…” jingle.  Why not have fun with that and allow consumers to “take a break” from social media?  While it’s important to remain consistent, it’s also enjoyable to step outside your own messaging box and see what you can come up with.
• Existing technology, reimagined: What I mean by this is that, yes, there are already technology platforms out there that allow you to post to multiple social networks, but does that mean that you can’t brand your own new version?  Kit Kat has gone beyond just scheduling posts to allow users to actually like specific pieces of content, adding their own new layer onto this sort of social technology.

#BrandMiss Learnings:

• Tone is everything: I’m going to assume that Mott’s was trying to be sarcastic or simply relate to its beleaguered audience, but it came off as sort of a bummer.  To me, applesauce is a happy treat that often reminds me of childhood.  I don’t want my apple sauce ranting to me about its hard week at work.
• Think about your audience: In targeting your promoted tweets, you need to think carefully as you craft your message.  Is it supposed to be funny?  Serious?  Will they understand what you’re trying to say?  In reaching my age/interest group on Twitter, Mott’s is reaching beyond the typical children target, but I think they may have missed the mark on this particular message.

The majority of conversation is taking place on Twitter (over 77,000 posts just in the last 7 days), with Facebook coming in at a distant second with just over 8,700 posts.  In reading over some of these conversations, we’ve noticed a few trends:

The city prepares – In the days before the official start of the summit, news of the city’s police and crowd control preparations were the main topic of discussion.  Road closures, commuting tips and NATO “guides” were shared to help the public educate themselves on the coming global event.

Staying home/Getting out of town- These sound like opposites, but let me explain.  Quite a few Chicago residents have decided to leave town for the weekend, noting parking disruptions and general delays as their reasons.  While others, however, have decided to stick it out for the weekend and have acknowledged that they’ll probably stay inside for much of the time.

The protests begin – As protesters began to gather outside Prudential Plaza (where the Obama campaign’s headquarters are stationed) yesterday, news media, protesters, and the general public share information about where to gather and what’s happening in and around the city.  We’ve also seen protesters utilizing Ustream to livestream what they see and hear while they travel around the city.

Only time will tell how the NATO Summit progresses, but we’re sure that social media will play an integral part in how the nation, and the world, view this important meeting.

• Have we decided or proven that our target audience is on Facebook?
• Have we clearly outlined what we want them to do?
• Do we have a clear offer or messaging strategy to cause them to act?
• Do we have mechanisms in place to measure those outcomes?
• Have we defined what success looks like?

If each of those answers is Yes, then you should be confident in your decision to advertise on Facebook. If any of those answers is No, then there is room for improvement in your campaign overall; however, it doesn’t mean that Facebook should be eliminated from your marketing mix all together. With the nascent nature of Facebook and its advertising platform, it’s easy for naysayers to disparage Facebook as an advertising medium, especially on the eve of its IPO. At Zocalo, we have a deliberate channel planning approach for social media programming. Considering the specific roles and frameworks of platforms, we set strategies based upon the power they have to deliver ROI against very specific marketing objectives; awareness, engagement, action and recommendation.

In our experience, the most successful engagement programs on Facebook happen only as a result of both very engaging content strategies coupled with interesting and relevant Facebook advertising campaigns. Both to reinforce the message to existing fans, as well as acquire new fans.

In General Motors’ case, they may not have outlined what success looks like or how necessarily to measure it, and as a result they are making this decision based on the data on hand. Our assumption is that General Motors will eventually come back to Facebook, once they see their audience engagement levels drop off, but for now it appears they are taking a brief hiatus. As Facebook approaches nearly 1 billion registered users, its sheer audience size and their levels of engagement make it one of the top 5 largest properties on the web and nearly impossible for any marketer to ignore for very long.

SOBCon is hosted and attended by industry rock stars like Liz Strauss, Chris Brogan, Brian Solis (who made a “surprise” appearance on Friday), and Tim Sanders. Throughout the event, there are several opportunities to meet, learn from and brainstorm with these leaders and innovators. Due to the intentionally small attendance – capped at 150, I believe – these Influencers share their insights in a candid, uncensored way. Perhaps my favorite example of this was Tim Sanders’ brilliant remark: “If you don’t know who the a-hole is in your industry, you’re the a-hole.” SMB expert, Barry Moltz, captured the Most Memorable Things Said at SOBCon 2012 here.

The format is nothing I’d experienced at other conferences. There are blocks that include a featured speaker, followed by the presentation of a specific model. Attendees then work in groups of 5-6 people to discuss and strategize how each model applies to themselves, their business, or others in their group. Through the course of the day on Friday, the mastermind sessions I participated in were both inspiring and educational. We collaborated to help one attendee validate the model for a new business she’s planning to launch; another member of my team asked for advice on prioritizing two very different businesses he currently runs. The level of intelligence, support and interest in working together during these sessions was truly amazing.

In her opening remarks, SMB expert and Influencer Carol Roth advised first-timers they may not fully understand the conference until three days later. I can confirm that, over the past several days, I have been digesting the experience: what I learned, who I met, and the ideas we shared and discussed. It was truly a unique learning experience and I hope to return to SOBCon 2013!

Photo courtesy of facebook.com/sobcon

• “It’s about scale and engagement”: Silverman said it best – “It’s very easy in the digital space to be blinded by the flavor of the week, but it’s important to measure a network’s success by how many people are actually engaging with their offerings.”  While strictly measuring fan numbers is valuable, it’s also important to see what your fans are engaging with on your page.  Once they’re a fan, what are you doing to keep their attention?
• Go beyond the Wall: With Facebook’s upgrade to Timeline, a lot of focus (and rightly so) has been on Wall content and how to engage fans within that space.  But what about the apps?  The History Channel has had great success with fun social games because they know that their fans enjoy social gaming. Remember to askyour fans what they’d like to see.  Try some things out.  See what sticks and what doesn’t – the great thing about social media is that it’s ever evolving.  Don’t be afraid to think out of the box and beyond the Wall.

• Characters are people, too: Fans of a particular show often relate to characters in a deeply personal way, thinking of them not only as faces on a TV screen, but almost as real life friends or family.  Embrace that connection (on a healthy level) and don’t forget to be creative – yes, we can launch Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for the show, but what about the characters?  They’re what fans are tuning in for – make sure to think about opportunities to bring their story to life as well.
• Find opportunities for new content: Consumers are now expecting television to go beyond the TV screen with online webisodes, exclusive behind-the-scenes footage or additional character background info.  Social TV is no longer a “trend” – fans are flipping between their smartphones, tablets and their TV – brands must continue to find innovative ways to keep viewers involved on each of those channels.

Zócalo Group, Ketchum and maslansky luntz + partners proudly took home a Gold SABRE Award Tuesday night for their collaborative work on U.S Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA).

The SABRE Awards are presented annually by The Holmes Group, a leading resource for the public relations industry, recognizing Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation. Tuesday’s award ceremony highlighted the best campaigns across North America and Latin America, featuring excellence in three categories: Gold SABREs for PR programming; Silver SABREs for content creation; and new this year, Diamond SABREs which recognize three key areas in which PR plays a strategic role.

Accompanying our Gold SABRE Award win was a recent nomination by The Holmes Report for Global Digital/Social Agency of the Year. We were also a Gold SABRE Award finalist for best Social Media/Social Networking Campaign.

For a complete list of winners, visit The Holmes Report.

To this end, we actively recommend marketers close the gap between search and social channels and start using both in an integrated fashion both from a research as well as an execution standpoint. This article will focus on the research aspect, but in future posts, we’ll focus more on the lift and efficiencies to be gained by integrating search and social together.

So how should I think about search and social from a research standpoint? Below are 3 quick ways for you to get started:

1. Keyword research: When beginning or optimizing any search campaign, marketers must understand what the keyword landscape looks like. In the past, tools such as the Google keyword tool, Wordtracker, SearchMetrics or Wordstream have been used and were enough. But now, there are so many more realtime tools you can use to update your campaigns such as Twitter Search, Radian6, TrendsMap (for specific geo-targeted campaigns) or even Pinterest search to see what visuals are resonating with your customers, which may give you additional keyword ideas. These tools, along with your traditional research tools will supercharge your campaigns and give you the realtime insights todays search marketer needs.
2. Optimization: As you start rolling out your search campaign, keep an eye on those same social research tools to watch for key brand messages and if or how they are resonating with your audience. If you are including #hastags or social icons, keep an eye on your social analytics and see if you start seeing referrals from your search landing pages ending up in your social campaigns. Make sure to note when you make search campaign changes and how they influence your social engagement overall.
3. Measurement and Reporting: And last, but certainly not least, keep an eye on peaks and valleys in both your search as well as social reporting. If you see specific spikes in the social space, see if it correlates in search and vice versa. These channels grow more intertwined on a daily basis, so the only way to maximize the two is through an integrated effort.

I hope this has been informative, however I know there are certainly other ways to integrate both of these channels from a research perspective. What ways do you integrate the two? Let us know in the comments below.

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