Brands must adapt to consumers' increasing use of social media and digital channels. As attention becomes more distributed, brands need new ways to stand out. Content shelf-life is also shrinking, requiring brands to continuously stay fresh. Social media is growing through demographic diversification, with more older users joining. Growth also comes from effective content distribution across platforms. Most consumers expect brands to interact with them on social media. This will influence marketing spending and tactics in 2010. Personal brands are also growing in importance and some see benefits in authenticity and talent attraction, but risks like employee departures remain. Servicing is an opportunity for customer engagement, but brands must expand beyond traditional channels to platforms like social media. Metrics like engagement and monet
2. 2007 – 2012
Macro Trends
1
Marketing is now a conversation:
Brands must know how to adapt their engagement
models and tone.
2
Consumers’ attention is more distributed across ever
changing digital channels and sources:
Brands must learn new ways to stand out.
3 Content shelf-life is shrinking:
Brands most know how to continuously stay fresh.
2
3. 2009 – 2010
Micro Trends
1 Social Media Grows up
2 Brand Humanization: Corporate and Personal
Brand Confluence
3 Blurring Line Between
Marketing & Servicing
3
!"
5. SOCIAL MEDIA GROWS UP
Some Facts
Between 2008 and 2009 LinkedIn grew 63% YOY (1 new member
AUDIENCE every second). For the same period, Twitter grew 1,679%.
In 2006 the total marketing spend on social media was $350
SPEND million. The forecast spend for 2011 is more than $2.5 billion.
Dell Outlet booked more than $3mm in revenue attributable
Spend
SALES to it’s twitter posts.
78% of people trust what their social media network says about
TRUST a product or service vs. 55% for Television.
5
7. SOCIAL MEDIA GROWS UP
Growth
Growth is coming from Demographic Diversification
Proportion of adults who access social networking sites on
the internet at home.
18% growth
across the year
Q1 2008 Q3 2008 Q1 2009
21% growth
60
50 across the year
40
30
20
10
0
15 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 54 55 - 64 65 - 74 75+
Age (years)
* source ofcom 7
8. SOCIAL MEDIA GROWS UP
Growth (Example)
Demographic Diversification
comes in forms obvious to
many of us every day: GRANDMA
(76 Years)
Angela
(34 Years)
Madison
(7 Years)
8
9. SOCIAL MEDIA GROWS UP
Broad Distribution
Growth is accelerating because content is being distributed (ie
shared) more effectively then ever before
Eric Tsai, “The Evolution of Media Content Distribution: Circulation 1.0 to 2.0”
9
DesignDamage.com, posted July 2nd, 2009,
10. SOCIAL MEDIA GROWS UP
Broad Distribution (Examples)
Many have successfully cracked the code on distributed
content models…
BRAND / PROPERTY
IBM
NEW YORK TIMES BARACK OBAMA ZAPPOS WESABE
SMARTER PLANET
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM
Kindle Blog Blog iPhone
Facebook Connect Twitter Dashboard
Subscriptions Platform Application
10
11. SOCIAL MEDIA GROWS UP
Brands
85% of consumers look for Brands to interact with them in social media
Consumer Expectations of Brands in Social Media Spaces
7% Should have social media presence,
8%
interact with consumers as
needed / by request
51% Should have social media presence,
interact with consumers regularly
34%
Can have a presence in social
media, should not interact with
consumers
Shoud not have a social media
presence
* data from emarketer.com
11
12. 1
SOCIAL MEDIA GROWS UP SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE:
Implications A greater percentage of High Value Customers,
and their spend, will be influenced through
for Marketing Social Media Marketing.
in 2010
2
MARKETING SPEND:
The distribution of digital marketing investments
will continue to shift.
3
CHANGES IN PLATFORM AUDIENCE:
Tactics and Tone will change to match a more
mature audience.
4
RELATIONSHIPS WITH INFLUENCERS:
Relationships with influentials will become more
critical to success.
5
BRAND PERCEPTION:
A larger portion of a Brand’s perception scores
will be influenced by its Social Media presence,
or lack thereof. $%"
14. BRAND HUMANIZATION: CORPORATE AND PERSONAL BRAND CONFLUENCE
Corporate / Personal Social Media Gap
Current brand voices may not be fully
in synch with Web 2.0 environments
such as Social Media. This presents a
challenge for corporations.
14
15. BRAND HUMANIZATION: CORPORATE AND PERSONAL BRAND CONFLUENCE
Why is this happening – The Connected Web
“People would rather have a
conversation with a person
than a brand”
– Scott Monty, Ford Motor Company
Sites like Facebook & Twitter have changed the
dynamic around customer access to in-person
interaction, putting people in front of brands.
15
*photo from Scott Monty’s flickr feed
16. BRAND HUMANIZATION: CORPORATE AND PERSONAL BRAND CONFLUENCE
The Connected Web – Proof Points
“People will determine whether Joe
(an employee) is trustworthy by what
he says, what he does, […] how he
talks with others, who he links to, what
he links to and who he's friends with
and follows.”
– John Robinson,
Editor and Chief of the Greensboro Record.
Customers will no longer accept brands at
face value.
16
17. BRAND HUMANIZATION: CORPORATE AND PERSONAL BRAND CONFLUENCE
Personal Brand Costs/ Benefits (Risks and Fears)
Larger brands are now creating personal sub-brands under
a corporate umbrella.
However, there are both opportunities and risks associated
with “Employees as Brands”
1
Personal brands are a cost to the company: Why let
employees build their own brand on the reputation
and at the cost of the company?
2 What if the employee goes rogue?
Are personal brands governable?
3 Popular employees are likely to get wooed by a competitor.
After they leave a gap is left that the brand perhaps can’t fill.
17
18. BRAND HUMANIZATION: CORPORATE AND PERSONAL BRAND CONFLUENCE
Personal Brand Costs/ Benefits (Opportunities)
1
Authenticity Cost: The investment hurdle to win
customer trust is naturally lower for individuals
than for corporations.
2
All Things to All People: It can be difficult (and costly)
for one brand to achieve multi-segment relevance.
Personal brands can be a good way to appeal to a new
audience without alienating the core.
3
Attracting the Best of Gen Y Talent: The brightest MBAs, etc.
will want to work somewhere they can spread their wings
and grow.
18
19. BRAND HUMANIZATION: CORPORATE AND PERSONAL BRAND CONFLUENCE
Corporate Social Media Brand Approaches
@wholefoods @don_draper @jetblue @BestBuyCMO
Marketing Sophistication
Less More
19
20. CORPORATE AND PERSONAL BRAND CONFLUENCE
Success Stories from the Right Side of the Scale
Frank Eliason puts a personal face to
Comcast
FRANK ELIASON
servicing customers through the
Comcast Cares twitter feed.
Scott Monty and his team put a
Ford personal spin on providing advice
SCOTT MONTY
for car care.
David Knapp at Bank of America tweets
Bank of to assist customers. A large contrast
America from the traditional telephone based
DAVID KNAPP
servicing of the past.
20
21. CORPORATE AND
PERSONAL BRAND
CONFLUENCE
1
Implications PROLIFERATION OF PERSONAL BRANDS:
for Marketing With consumer expectations of “personal”
interactions increasing, all corporations will need
in 2010 to infuse “authenticity” into their marketing
strategies.
2
INTENTIONAL CHOICE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
BRAND MODEL:
Corporations will need to make a conscious
choice on which model will work best for them
from a brand and risk perspective.
3
ENGAGEMENT GUIDELINES:
Regardless of model, in order to create
marketing and brand humanization consistency,
tone of voice and guidelines for 1:1 digital
interactions will need to be addressed.
%$"
23. BLURRING LINE BETWEEN MARKETING AND SERVICING
Learnings from Servicing as Marketing
in the “Real” World: Word of Mouth Advocacy
1
CUSTOMER ATTENTION:
As brands struggle to "engage" consumers, service is a
convenient and potentially rewarding starting point.
2
PROBLEMS AS OPPORTUNITIES:
Capitalize on the fact that servicing is an emotional
experience by openly and enthusiastically solving
problems and showing empathy.
3
EMPLOYEE PASSION:
When employees use, and are excited about, the
product they sell, credibility goes up – and credibility
drives persuasion (Think waiters).
23
24. BLURRING LINE BETWEEN MARKETING AND SERVICING
Implications for Servicing/Marketing on the Web
BROAD
DISTRIBUTION The social web amplifies the impact of service on word of mouth.
IMPLICATIONS
BRAND
The dynamics of Social Media create a heightened sensitivity,
PERSONALIZATION
ENGAGEMENT
among an already skeptical audience, to “traditional” marketing
IMPLICATIONS tactics.
PLATFORM Increasing need for channel specific tactics such as developing
Spend
IMPLICATIONS Facebook and Twitter servicing infrastructure and programs.
24
26. BLURRING LINE BETWEEN
MARKETING AND
SERVICING
Implications
1
THE CONTINUED SHIFT OF SERVICING RESOURCES:
As “push” marketing techniques become less
for Marketing and less efficient, brands will invest growing
in 2010 resources in “pull” techniques, such as Social
Media servicing, to achieve engagement goals.
MARKETING EFFORTS POSITIONED AS SERVICING:
2
Brands will have to expand the scope of
engagement efforts beyond current customer
servicing platforms to create new “servicing
positioned” marketing platforms that leverage
the Social Web.
3
GROWING NEED FOR MEASURING SUCCESS:
As scale of Servicing as Marketing increases
corporations will insist on measuring channel
success metrics more effectively.
%&"
27. Metrics
1 Acquisition:
(eg. Fans on Facebook, Followers on Twitter).
2 Engagement:
(eg. Video Views, Monthly Uniques).
3 Monetization:
(eg. Dollars earned through particular social media channels).
27
28. THANK YOU
Marc Schiller, CEO & Founder
marc@electricartists.com
42 Bond Street, 3rd Fl.
New York, NY 10012
212.354.2650