KLM Surprise – a discussable social media campaign…

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When I first came across the KLM Surprise idea, I thought “cool customer service”, “very modern approach” and “nice use of a Social Media campaign”. It seems KLM engages in how to make their clients happy, how to understand personalized customer service of the future and how to use social media to reach out to their clients one step ahead.

On a second thought, clients could be overwhelmed in a negative way. The approach of the airline might be seen as “social media stal….”. Shall we really use this phrase? Is there some validity in it?

The idea implements all aspects and features of an advertising campaign, and the KLM claim for me seems to be: modern social advertising. Or as the brand puts it: KLM is “committing little acts of kindness because we wanted to discover how happiness spreads”.

Nothing bad about it in my eyes. I like the idea in some way…

Nevertheless, my question is: Is this modern social advertising approach going to far? Is it addressing too much the human characteristics of personality and individuality? Or is it just the modern way of personalized advertising? Some kind of the future of Social CRM?

Know what?! Let’s discuss it! Watch it and give us thoughts….

Absatzwirtschaft über "führende Werbeblogger" in Deutschland

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Das Marketing-Magazin Absatzwirtschaft, eines der deutschen Top Marketingblätter, hat vor ein paar Wochen für seine Printausgabe die “führenden Werbeblogger” Deutschlands interviewt. Für mich war die Tatsache eine Ehre, das man neben “Indiskretion Ehrensache” und “Off the Record” auch The Strategy Web zu einem der “führenden Werbeblogs” in Deutschland zählt, sowie zum Interview bittet.

Natürlich hätte ich gerne mehr über die Bloggosphäre gesagt, aber eine grundsätzlich diskussionwürdige Stellungsnahme ist sicherlich das Zitat:
“Es ist ziemlich verworren, was zurzeit im Bereich der Webstrategien abgeht! Markenverantwortliche träumen von Bloggern und Followern in ihren Diensten, doch die modernen Socialmedians verhalten sich anders.” Es verdeutlicht, was derzeit die Marketiers wollen, aber die Bloggosphäre meiner Ansicht nach, oft noch nicht bereit ist zu vollfüllen.

In den nächsten Tagen werde ich das ein wenig mehr ausführen, wenn ich meine dreiteiligen Reihe “Insights 2010” veröffentliche. Der Beitrag “Spaßgetrieben” kann im PDF-Format nachgelesen werden…

Infographic by InsideView: Social Media – Facts & Figures

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It is probably one of the best visuals created on facts and figures around the social web. InsideView put many stats together in one picture such as…

– history of social networks (missing Plaxo though which made me aware of the social networks phenomenon 13 years ago, apart from the leading Asian networks like Tencent/QQ)
– social profiles of the Global Fortune 100
– the world’s most popular brands and their social appearance
– social media reach and usage by country
– the leading B2B social media platforms

Money, Money, Money – Facebook users follow brands for discounts, and Twitter for social badging

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Some days ago, we could read that Facebook is becoming kind of an outlet for brands to engage with their fans and which brands scored the best. A recent survey from ExactTarget and Co-Tweet now shows product discounts and “social badging” are the main motivations for “liking” brands on Facebook.

43% of Facebook users interviewed said they “like,” or are fans of, at least one brand on Facebook. Among those, 40% admit that the reason for staying friends with the brands is to receive discounts and promotions. Interestingly enough for me is that already 39% state they do so to make their brand affiliations public versus 23% of interviewed people said they follow brands on Twitter for social-badging purposes.

Some more findings of the study is basically saying that marketers are “welcome as participants on social networks” as long as it supports free enterprise, not because they seek out interactions with marketers on Facebook.

Further key findings on ExactTarget’s study Facebook X-Factors why people like brands on Facebook…
– 34% like brands in order to stay informed about company activities
– 33% want to get updates on future products
– 17% are more likely to buy after liking that brand on Facebook

Again we can see in this study that Facebook is definitely more a platform for women than for men to keep up relationships (63% vs. 54%), connecting with old friends (68% vs. 56%), and managing their social lives (41% vs. 34%).

As the top performing brands on Facebook are named…
Oreo (Nabisco): Top among deal seekers across all age groups (Facebook drivers: coupons and freebies).
Wal-Mart: Top among cost-savings opportunitiy seekers across all age and gender.
Victoria’s Secret: Top among especially Millennials as of new product offerings featured.
iTunes: Top among Millennials as of highlighting new movie and music releases.
Dove: Top among women based on their iinitial “Campaign for Real Beauty”.

The findings are based on a survey of 1,506 consumers age 15+ in April 2010 and consumer interviews among 44 people in March 2010.

Study shows, Twitter is a real buzz-generator

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It is undoubted that the Twitter users are the most influential crowd of people. A recent research by ExactTarget discovers now the outreach of the influence that these people have. It goes well outside the micro-blogging platform into blogs, forums and even the living room.

In it’s fourth study of their “Subscribers, Fans and Followers” research series, ExactTarget takes a deeper look at what makes Twitter users a special community crowd compared to other online channels. The study shows that the news that the users grab from the micro-blogging platform don’t stay on Twitter.

The news are spread via the following communication channels…
– 72% publish blogs at least monthly
– 70% comment on blogs
– 61% write at least one product review per month
– 61% comment on news sites

“While the number of active Twitter users is less than Facebook or email, the concentration of highly engaged and influential content creators is unrivalled – it’s become the gathering place for content creators whose influence spills over into every other corner of the Internet.” Morgan Stewart, Principal, ExactTarget’s research and education group

Spot On!
The study also provides insight that daily Twitter users are six times more likely to publish articles, five times more likely to post blogs, seven times more likely to post to Wikis. For business it has to be stressed that these daily Twitter users are three times more likely to post product reviews at least once per month than non-Twitter users.

Interested to know if Twitter users really create so many reviews and ratings? What’s your view on this topic?

Social Networks – Are niche communities the future of networks?

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More often people are fed up with all that self-referential talk of individuals on social networks. Or, companies which do not understand the idea of an online conversation, including clients and not just broadcasting the old-fashioned marketing and sales way. Just today, I had some people in my Facebook stream and my Twitter updates telling me how the weather was, what their kids had for breakfast, or that their wives don’t understand their affinity to social networks. OK, nice, fair enough… Interesting? No!

And then I hear my wife saying… “Why keeping up the contact to so many people if there is no option to even get actively into 10 per cent of the conversations happening in these online relationships?” True, but you never know when some contact might need you, or vice versa.

Checking Facebook and staying up-to-date on Twitter becomes challenging on a busy day, with kids that are happy to see dad in the evening for some minutes, and long-time friends complaining why they don’t hear anything from you anymore.

So, is there another trend coming up in the future that might go for niche social networks, niche communities? Why? We had that offline for ages. Years ago, people have spend hours in their football club bar after a training session, or went to book readings to enjoy the discussion afterwards, or went to a vernisage in order to “philosophy” about the latest gallery exhibition with someone they don’t know. The reason for doing it was just their share of interest in something, a hobby, a passion, or a kind of affinity. So, are we seeing social networks for art geeks going on virtual gallery tours in the future?

My father was telling me that he uses a Bridge community and plays daily for one or two hours. A friend of mine is a DJ and he spend hours in communities for DJs like My DJ Space or Mix DJ. Some even still (or again?) love vinyl and become members in a community there. These music enthusiasts do nothing more or less than share their interest in being DJs, and obviously loving to mix tapes. The special interest is the centre of their community engagement.

Some years ago, somebody approached me with the idea of an international golfer network (http://www.golffriends.com/welcome/community). As I love playing golf (though don’t have enough time to play often…), there was some interest to become a member, if not more to become more engaged in the business idea. But then, time and the thought of managing many private interest networks -as I have quite some hobbies- next to my business networks and the top networks made me not investing too much time in that vision. Maybe I should have done…

Mothers share their passion for coffee on Cafemom, and if we think about all the Starbucks communities it does not surprise us. Games exchange ideas and thoughts on Raptr, or real social activists use Care2. Even more “nichy” is the passion of men for their moustache that they express online to the public. And others share their interest in Whisky or Wine networks.

So, my question is if niche networks could take a big portion of the market share of global social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc.) in the future? Can you see people going away from the self-gloryfying popular networks that the mainstream web user is engaged in? Tell us of niche networks you know and how you see this trend?

The 3 types of social networkers that influence the buying process

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It’s been a rumour in the industry for quite a long time now: Facebook and Twitter are becoming indirect shopping platforms and their buttons can boost sales. A recent survey by the research firm Gartner Inc. discovered that most of the users appreciate and take suggestions from their friends through social networking sites before purchasing products. And furthermore, they rely on three types of social networking friends for their purchasing decision process.

The Gartner study asked nearly 4,000 consumers across 10 key markets. The interesting part is that people in the social networks are taking different positions inside the purchasing process when recommending products to people they are connected with. Gartner identifies three types of people and roups them into three categories: ‘Connectors’, ‘Mavens’ and ‘Salesmen’.

So, how do they differentiate from each other?
The ‘Connectors’ are defined as those who “perform a bridging function between disparate groups of people and enjoy introducing people to each other”. The ‘Mavens’ are “knowledge exchangers or information brokers”, who are experts in particular area and people go to them for advice. But they are not people who wish to convince people to buy certain items; they are more interested in acquiring new knowledge, it said. The ‘Salesmen’ are those, who have “extensive social connections” and the personality trait that persuade people around them to “act on information in highly directed ways”.

“Our survey results showed that one-fifth of the consumer population is composed of Salesmen, Connectors and Mavens. These are three roles that are key influencers in the purchasing activities of 74 per cent of the population.” (…) “Salesmen and Connectors are the most effective social network influencers and the most important groups for targeted marketing based on social network analysis.” Nick Ingelbrecht, Research Director, Gartner

Gartner advises companies based on the findings of its survey to pro-actively engage with these different types of people on social networking sites. Not surprisingly, they define these categories of social media influencers as the “critical, but underutilised, aspect of the marketing process” for the future.

“Companies attempting to use social networks should develop relationships with key customers over a period of time and progressively refine the social network profiles of those individuals.” (…) “Retailers who run small shops have instinctively done this with their best customers for years with the intention that these ‘VIP’ customers will not only buy the new products but recommend them to their friends.” Nick Ingelbrecht, Research Director, Gartner

Spot On!
For me, there is a strange thing about this study. It causes a Deja-vu, I have never had before in my life. Two years ago, I published and explained -in German- in a long post the importance of these three types of people in business networks for business decision makers, and how businesses should focus on them when talking about their social media approaches. And guess what: Two years ago, I came to the same conclusion and refered to the same types of people. In these days, I have read the book “Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell for the second time. And in this book you will find the same categories of people, and you are told to rely on them and work with ‘Connectors’, ‘Mavens’ and ‘Salesmen’.

The main question is now, how to address these social networking influencers? Can you call them up and talk to them directly? Send an email? Invite them for dinner or lunch? What is the best way to start the conversation with them?

The social web becomes the new recruiting channel

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A new study by Jobvite states that 73.3% of responding companies turn to social networks to recruit new employees. The reason is obvious: Success! Almost 60% reported that they have successfully hired a new employee through social network sites like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

The key findings of the study for companies that recruit through social networks …

– 80% used LinkedIn
– 55% useed Facebook
– 45% used Twitter

Especially the numbers of LinkedIn show a significant success number when addressing new recruits via social networking sites…

– On LinkedIn 90% that recruit through social networks have found candidates there.
– Facebook: 27.5% that recruit through social networks have found candidates there.
– Twitter: 14.2% that recruit through social networks have found candidates there.

As companies are successful in recruiting through the social web (58,1%), the spending of half of the employers are planned to increase, while spending on traditional job boards and employee recruiting firms will decrease.

Spot On!
If you compare the numbers with the same study in 2009, it shows that the market for good new recruits seems to become more challenging. In 2009, 66% of the companies found a new employee via social networks, 8% less than this year. Still both parts of the recruitment chain can win with their social web engagement. Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have a significant impact on company’s HR strategy and recruiting success. Nevertheless, it has to be said that not only companies might benefit. Employees that take care of their social networking profiles make themselves heard in other HR departments.

Youtube bringt TV-Personalisierung für die Lean Back Gesellschaft

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Mit einem neuen Service Angebot adressiert Youtube die Lean Back Gesellschaft. Und das mit einer cleveren Idee: Man verbindet den personalisierten Youtube Account und macht ihn zur Broadcasting Show. Das Angebot mit dem Titel Lean Back ging jetzt live und macht sich auf eine neue (oder alte?) Perspektive des Internet TV-Watching werden.

Für die Navigation ist keine Eingabe von URLs und nicht einmal eine Maus notwendig – Enter Taste und Mousetasten genügen. Es ist irgendwie revolutionär und dann doch die altbekannte Back-to-the-Roots TV-Nutzung – nur eben in der digitalen Welt und mit Personalisierung. Keine Kommentare, keine Kommunikation und keine Ratings. Ein Rückschritt für die Social Web-Gesellschaft oder die Option sich wie gewohnt einfach nur berieseln lassen?

Der Senior Product Manager Kuan Yong von YouTube beschreibt die Technik wie folgt…

“This feed is based on your YouTube settings and preferences, including content from your subscriptions and videos your friends are sharing on Facebook (assuming you’ve connected your YouTube account to your Facebook account).”

Die Verknüpfung mit Facebook und den Informationen aus den Youtube Info Inhalten funktioniert noch unzulänglich im Bezug auf meine Vorlieben, Wünsche und meinen Geschmack zumindest. Es beruhigt ein wenig zu sehen, daß Google und seine Abgesandten noch nicht in mein Hirn sehen oder aus meinen Neuronen lesen kann. Bleibt dennoch interessant zu beobachten, wie man versuchen wird, andere Social Networks zu integrieren. Denn die Chance der Cross-Synergien wird Youtube sicherlich nicht auslassen…

PS: Irgendwie frage ich mich ob das Konzept nicht gegen den Claim des Brands “Broadcast yourself” geht. Wie seht Ihr das?

Der Zwang und Drang nach Information

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Das Credo meiner digitalen Kreativität beherrscht immer der Grundsatz “Online ist nur ein Katalysator für die Offline Welt!”.

Nachdem ich nun Frank Schirrmachers Buch Payback überdacht habe, will ich eine Frage aufwerfen, die sich mir schon nach der Lektüre von Miriam Meckels Buch Das Glück der Unerreichbarkeit: Wege aus der Kommunikationsfalle aufgedrängt hat.

Ist es ein Zwang oder ein Drang nach Informationen, welcher uns so an die Faszination für die modernen und sozialen Medien fesselt?

Als Anregung sollen zwei Zitate Schirrmachers aus seinem Buch die Diskussion anregen…

In einem Einkaufszentrum können wir immerhin den Laden verlassen, in der digitalen Welt merken wir gar nicht, daß wir ihn betreten haben. Wir sind online, selbst wenn wir es nicht sind. Denn wir denken permanent an die Informationen, die uns entgangen sind oder die auf uns warten können.

Und weiter sagt der Autor…

“Früher haben wir uns unsere Informationen gesucht, heute suchen die Informationen uns.”

Dem stelle ich mal meine Version zur Frage gegenüber…

Die Faszination für die digitale Welt, die wir und in der wir leben, ist der gewollte Drangs nach Information. Es ist kein Zwang. Es ist kein Müssen. Es ist ein können wollen, oder wollen können. Es ist ein Bedürfnis nach Wissen. Keine Fessel, sondern ein Dürfen. Die Menschheit hat die Wahl.

Die Frage ist, ob Schirrmachers These nach menschlicher Differenzierung vom Computer durch Kreativität dafür nun ein ganzes Buch benötigt, oder ein gutes Blog es auch getan hätte. Die Frage stelle ich mir inzwischen bei so manchen Buch. Ein Blog mit diversen Posts, welches ähnliche Weisheiten gefördert hätte, hätte dieselbe Wirkung. Oder mehr? Gerade bei der heutigen Informationsflut, ist gezielte Pointiertheit und Präzision der Menschen Gnade…

Zudem… Wer spricht in dem Buch? Ein Opfer der Printindustrie, der sich dem neuen Drang nach Informationen nicht erwehren kann, nicht entziehen kann. Nicht damit klar kommt, daß die Masse an Medienproduktion nicht mehr zu bewältigen ist? Projeziert der Autor dies zu sehr auf die Allgemeinheit? Ist nicht das Schöne an den sozialen Medien die Kreativität, die fließen kann? Oder ist das dann wieder ein Zwang…?

Was als negativer Zwang geschrieben, kann auch als positiver Drang nach Informationen interpretiert werden. Es würde mich Eure Meinung interessieren. Ist es ein Zwang oder Drang nach Informationen, der Euch antreibt im Social Web mitzumachen?