As part of our active membership of the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Social Media Council, it’s our duty to discuss, debate and disclose details and information about the issues facing the industry today.
Effective immediately, we’ll be contributing a monthly column to the IAB UK Social blog pages and that kicks off today with this blog post covering off the ASA’s new remit, Tiger Woods’ sponsorship with Nike and acceptance of modern day commercially arranged endorsements.
Disrupt! Be out of the ordinary! Be human! Surprise! Delight! Think about the offline!
^ Welcome to 1000heads.com. We preach about all of the above and much, much more. When it comes to adopting a human tone of voice, we yell our thoughts and beliefs from the rooftops.
Often we find the best examples of this away from our computers and out on the streets around us. Today, we’d like to show off five awesome examples of randomness that we’ve spotted and/or come up with that have made us smile, sparked a conversation and ultimately, enticed us in-store to make a purchase.
First up, as it’s a Monday, we’ll start with something cute. This sign should read: ‘Kitten for sale’, but it doesn’t, it says this -
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that I spotted this one only last night on my way home from work. Inspiration (and humour) is everywhere, you just have to look up.
Next, your bar is closed. First of all, why? Second, how do you communicate it? B@1 has the answer -
These guys are up front about the lack of cocktails on this particular evening and, as fellow hard-working human beings, we totally understand the difficulties giving all of the staff a night off and this communicates it brilliantly. Fair play.
Returning to that journey to and from work, it’s not often you spot furniture just left around in the street. What’s even more infrequent is spotting this kind of note attached:
“I need a new home! I’m a super sofa bed.”
Of this, I am a fan. According to my neighbours this sofa was snapped up within hours of it being left out like this and, even though dumping furniture like this is probably illegal, putting a human face on it all suddenly changes your perspective.
This next one we spotted on Twitter this morning, c/o ‘Professor Snape‘. We don’t know what store this was snapped in but, as creative ideas around empty shelving areas go, this one is definitely one of our favourites.
As a global word of mouth creative agency we have offices all over the world, aiding and assisting clients everywhere. Our roots, believe it or not, are in rural Oxford but for the past two years, our global headquarters (and natural home) has been right here in London.
We work here, we live here, we play here.
Tonight we’re closing the office at (an unheard of) 5:30pm to send our teams home to their respective homes to be safe. Some will be joining the clear up efforts; spear-headed by the spontaneous camaraderie forming around the #riotcleanup hashtag (and website), others will be headed out of town to join loved-ones in safer areas away from the potential flashpoints.
Word of mouth is our thing and, over the past 72hrs, we’ve seen what an amazing platform that can be. Both negatively and positively.
We’re not going to pour data through meaningless charts, nor extol the virtues of product ‘a’ or campaign ‘b’, we’re just going to crack on with our work, both within the office and without.
Be careful out there, friends. London – and the rest of the UK – will pull through this.
Blink 182, unlike many, many other bands/artists, have decided to EMBRACE the ‘mis-use’ of their music and, instead of hitting ‘go’ on their lawyers, have recognised that if someone has used their music it probably means that they are a fan. .
The sheer dedication and commitment to using not just the famous ones. Being a fan is not defined by how many views you’ve had or how many likes your video has garnered. It’s about being passionate and actually giving a damn. You like Blink 182′s music? They give a damn about you. .
In the same way that the YouTubers featured in this video have ‘stolen’ Blink 182′s music, Blink have done exactly the same back by ‘stealing’ footage from their videos. The difference being the users in question won’t be hammering on the door with their lawyers. .
The title: “The Blink-182 Film Festival You Didn’t Know You Entered” – perfect. .
This is Blink 182′s first single release in eight years and they have a huge global fan-base. No matter what they did for their new single, they would’ve got huge coverage – the fact that they chose this particular idea for their return launch speaks volumes about how much they care about their community. To put it bluntly; that is epic.
The success of our social recruitment work with Mars has left us pretty evangelical about its possibilities, and it looks like increasing numbers of HR and recruitment professionals are starting to source and engage with talent in a social way.
Here in London Bill Boorman‘s #trulondon social recruitment unconferences are a good place to look for insight – we learnt a lot back at the one in February. The Social Recruiting Conference (#SRCONF), which hit London in June and moves on to Paris in December, also provided some good case studies, such as this from Paul Maxin, Global Resourcing Director of Unilever.
A couple of weeks ago Bill hosted #truboston and evidently companies in the US are also taking social recruitment to heart. Today I found this Jobvite infographic via Carve Consulting’s Paul Harrison, another excellent brain on this topic, and the numbers speak for themselves.
Of course, social recruiting gets really interesting when you move beyond profiling on LinkedIn and make the entire recruitment process social.
Can you set candidates a task that is uniquely conversational?
How is their experience made to feel personal?
What surprises and delights can you inject along the way (on and offline)?
We’ll start to see more of this stuff emerge as companies gain confidence, and integrate their efforts, in this field.
So what are your favourite examples of social recruiting to date?
My girlfriend and I spent the weekend in Dorset a couple of weeks ago, relaxing with friends. It was lovely. Beaches, barbecues and beer. Bliss. On the Friday evening, we were having a drink in the garden when my friend’s phone buzzed from inside the house.
“Oh”, he said returning with the device, “I’ve got three texts and two missed calls.”
“So do I!” said his girlfriend who had fished her phone from her bag.
All the texts, (six of them) and calls (four) were from the same person. One person who, we would later learn, was sat all alone in a hotel in the Scottish borders.
At this point, my girlfriend and I were a little bemused, so the other couple explained. The mutual friend (let’s call him Bob) had, it emerged, been in contact with our friends for the past few weeks about a wedding they were all attending.
Bob had asked them where they were staying, how they were getting there (they’re all London based) and what they were doing the night before. They, of course, assumed that he was talking about the weekend of the wedding, which was a month away. Bob, they now realised, was talking about this weekend, because that’s when he thought the wedding was.
Ah.
And now, of course, Bob was calling and texting to find out where they were. He thought they were meeting for dinner. And since it was now 9pm, his tummy was rumbling.
Bob had, through various events that included the mislaying of the invitation, an ambiguous diary entry and a series of conversations that had seemed clear – but had evidently been murk – got the date seriously wrong.
So why is any of this relevant to making brands social?
Well, it demonstrates how things can so easily go wrong when a simple piece of information isn’t readily available (the invite) or communication is based on a false assumption (the texts).
In this case, it led to time, money and a lovely cummerbund being wasted; but for your product launch, news about downtime on your service, a change in terms and conditions, or a great offer you have on this weekend, it becomes a much bigger deal.
Who’s missing out because they think they know what your brand stands for?
Who’s getting annoyed because they didn’t know your service wouldn’t be available?
Who would love to purchase your product at 25% off but doesn’t know they have the option?
If that wedding invite had been on Facebook this wouldn’t have happened (so maybe stick your sale details on there?)
If our friend’s monthly planner had been shared via email this wouldn’t have happened (so maybe share updates there?)
Next time you think you’ve been clear about your brand or activities, think about that bloke, sitting alone in a dank hotel. That happens to consumers on a daily basis.
A tale about that lesser-know social network, Gransnet
Last Christmas, my mother-in-law announced that she was never going on Facebook, that she was far too busy to mess around on the web, and that she knew no-one in her social circles who was on it. This surprised me slightly – she loves to chat to (read: advise/critique) everyone in her path, and as her demographic is the fastest growing on Facebook, I did rather expect her to be the early adopter amongst her friends.
So, when the Mumsnet offshoot, Gransnet, launched in May, I set her a challenge. Directing her to an article about the new social networking site, I asked whether she would mind trying out the site and giving me a review? My father-in-law was most enthusiastic – perhaps finally she would put those cruise ship computer lessons to some good? She said she would if I helped her log in. It took a while, and caused more than a little frustration; I began to regret the initiative, and silently gave up on my review.
Two months later, she called me up, ‘Do you want to know what I think then?’
Here it is, in summary (it did go on a bit) -
‘I really love Gransnet! I have met lots of new friends – I can split them up by their personality types – there are The Moaners, The Gigglers (I am one of these), The Supporters (they like to offer advice), The Young at Heart and The Too Young at Heart (always posting about anti-ageing). I read ‘am I being unreasonable?’ every day, and have found lots of info on the gardening and food pages. You Carrie, will love Pedant’s corner – there are over 200 posts on bad grammar! I am now telling all my friends about it.’
So well done Gransnet – if you can get my technophobic mother-in-law using (and advocating) your services, then I’m sure your ranks will surely be swelling before too long (particularly after she’s informed half of her local village).
For me, it’s powerful high profile evidence that proves that the over 50’s really are engaging online, and with disposable incomes and plenty of free time to chat, this age group are presenting a huge opportunity for brands – and not simply for those that want to directly target this market.
At 1000heads, we know that grandparents are key influencers in family decision-making (much of it directly requested), and so need to be taken seriously as both initiators and recipients of brand conversations.
For years they’ve felt ignored – engage, and the rewards could really surprise.
Now, I’m just popping off to Pedant’s Corner to see if anyone agrees with me about ‘bought’ and ‘brought’…
This week I discovered a handy graphic from author Geoff Livingston that tracks the history of ‘influencer theory’.
The idea of the influencer – that well-connected, vocal and trusted trend-setter who spreads advocacy and sales through his or her online network – has been hugely important in the development of social campaigns. However, it far precedes Gladwell’s 2000 ‘Tipping Point‘.
Back in the late nineteenth century the theory about how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures – a field dubbed diffusion of innovations – was already being developed by the likes of French sociologist Gabriel Tarde, US sociologist H. Earl Pemberton and German and Austrian anthropologists such as Friedrich Ratzel and Leo Frobenius. And in his 1962 ‘Diffusion of Innovations’, Everett Rogers went on to explain how the adoption of innovations could be harnessed by individuals and organisations.
My point? The influencer was not a concept created by social media. Marketers have somewhat embraced influencers as ‘the answer’ to social traction online, but in fact, few influencer campaigns actually generate big results. The ones that do – for example, our Tron Legacy/Nokia N8 campaign for Nokia as described in this month’s Marketing Week Digital Strategy supplement – carefully target influencers but also plan for much bigger, messier and more inclusive participation beyond the same old ‘opinion leaders.’
So I would suggest that we keep four things in mind when thinking about ‘influencers’:
Influencers don’t just live on the web. Don’t forget that you can reach online influencers through offline means (often much more emotionally effective), but also that some hugely powerful community leaders don’t care a fig about Facebook. How are you going to reach the most trusted mum at the school gates, as well as the tech king with 20,000 followers?
To get big results you need to focus on the influenced as much as the influencers. How can you create something adaptable and customisable so that each person can make it their own and maintain the spreading momentum? How can you make it easy for the lazy or the non-content creators to be touched?
Every one of your customers and potential customers deserves a great experience, not just those who have a high Klout score. Do not focus on making just the obvious, identifiable influencers happy – everyone has influence in their own way.
Stop thinking about influencers. Start thinking about people.
The music industry has taken a radical turn in the last ten years. Anyone watching with even a passing interest can’t fail to have noticed how the emphasis has turned to online tools. My colleague Molly touched on this issue very recently and she had a great point to make – labels, industry types, and even bands, have been stuck on technology.
If they’re not discussing piracy and copyright ownership, taking infringers to court or wallowing in the decline of the industry, execs and bands alike are focusing on the wealth of new tools that have emerged to help them sell via traditional and new channels. Which of them is going to save the industry? Is it Topspin, Nimbit, Fanbridge, et al, who are giving artists more control of their fan conversations and fulfilling the prophecy of the direct-to-fan model? Will it be TuneCore, which allows the artist to circumvent the label altogether and directly sell their music online? Or will it be something like TuneRights, making music a revenue stream for both artist and fan?
Amidst these heated debates it seems to me that we’re missing the only thing that can truly nurture the industry: The Fan.
Sure, it’s well documented that a music fan can be crazy, loyal and bordering on militant in their obsession. It can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that Lady Gaga’s ‘Little Monsters’ bow to her authority with reverence. Or that Justin Bieber’s ‘Beliebers’ dominated the trending topics on Twitter for so long that they started banning his appearance there. Not to be outdone, 30 Seconds to Mars fans, calling themselves the ‘Echelon’ and My Chemical Romance fans, the ‘MCRmy’, have been equally vocal in online voting wars. This is an industry with hardcore advocates. Even MTV acknowledged the fan communities in their recent O Music Awards with the category of ‘Fan Army FTW’.
So why, when the industry analyses and obsesses over the changing landscape of music, do few talk about these fans, their communities and the power they wield? In all this change one thing remains constant – the passion, dedication and emotional attachment of a music fan to their artist.
This emotional connection to the artist is what drives music fans and it should be the centre of any debate. Why do they have that connection? What created it? And how can we encourage that connection in every music consumer across the world?
These days we have to really make people want to buy music. We can’t just assume anymore. The industry can crack down and try to force people to buy instead of illegally download, and don’t get me wrong, it is their right to do so – illegal downloading is a problem that needs to be addressed. But let’s face it, there will always be piracy, and the harder the industry pushes against the angry pockets of the Internet, the bigger and longer the fight will be. A shift in attitude needs to happen. Instead of trying to sue Limewire to the tune of $75 trillion dollars and attempting to use brute force, the focus must be on how we get people to WANT to purchase.
You might think that no one wants to buy what they can get for free, but on the contrary, fans who are invested in the success of an artist – one they have followed since inception, or one they feel particularly close to – will want to support the artist in every way, including purchasing their music. Further, when fans experience music through a community that is given status as being an important and significant entity in an artist and label’s considerations, they become highly invested in the act of buying and promoting. Often fans will go ahead without you, but why let them flail around when you can direct and harness that enthusiasm to build a campaign that will cut through at grass roots level?
Many labels do a bit of this without strategy or direction, sending out a thoughtless email here and there – reaching out without consistency, viewing it as a way to play nice while investing in expensive above the line campaigns. But few understand the value of their advocates and the ways in which they can make a difference to the industry as a whole – as the glue that keeps the artist stuck to the consciousness of the general public, both on and offline.
Given the right encouragement and tools, fans are the best hope. The music industry is in a unique position – while other industries struggle for evangelists and take great pains to build consumer experiences that will lead to advocacy, in music we are presented with this on a platter. That is no doubt what has caused the industry to take fans and communities for granted, but imagine taking that platter of advocates and creating something meaningful from it.
A music fan is not just a consumer, buying an album and gig ticket once a year, but a powerful voice for an artist, reaching the niches we can’t with an authenticity that is unrivalled. By involving them in the entire promotional strategy and ensuring that they are invested in the success of the artist, we will find that the fans are our strongest ‘tool’ in overcoming the difficulties the industry faces today.
So, as a music fan (rather than a marketer, consumer or industry player): what do you feel?
There is an abundance of content being published around the interwebz this week all around the latest piece of social glue known as Google+
Unless you have been living inside your computer rather than right next to it these past few weeks, you no doubt know that Google+ has hit and it, according to the big G themselves at least, seems to be doing very well indeed.
We have our opinions on the service here at @1000heads (which I’m sure we’ll come back to another day) however, for today, all we want to know is this very simple two-part question:
Have you used it yet and what do you think?
We’d love to get opinions from all of you; journalists, social media analysts, fellow agencies, clients, readers passing by. Where did you hear about it? Are you on it? What have you done with it? Will you be sticking with it?
As part of our active membership of the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Social Media Council, it’s our duty to discuss, debate and disclose details and information about the issues facing the industry today.
