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What is social media marketing?Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a new way for organizations to interact and converse with their customer communities online. As millions of people flock to the social web, more organizations are realizing the true potential of SMM as a way to engage with customers. SMM is all about conversations with customers while traditional marketing is typically a one-way broadcast mechanism for specific messages. Really, it comes down to control - SMM is not about control, and traditional marketing is.
As larger brands continue to successfully use SMM to engage with customers, organizations of all sizes are looking for ways to do the same. To be able to make these connections, companies are recognizing the need to become part of the same communities as their customers. This means that they need to
blog, use Twitter, be active on Facebook, and make use of other social networking tools. All these tools share a common purpose: to create ‘buzz’ which leads to conversations. SMM is about participating in conversations wherever they are taking place.
Why would anyone listen?
Recent studies have shown that people have very little trust in corporations and their marketing websites (1). Other studies have shown that people are now much more likely to trust strangers online because of the ability to have direct conversations with them (2).
The most interesting thing about SMM is the lack of central control by any one organization or group of people. As a result, organizations must be sure not to take customers for granted and must
provide them with something of value. In short, organizations must show respect for their customer communities or they risk potentially ‘fatal’ backlash. In general, the phrase ‘conversation not sales’ captures a good guiding philosophy in SMM campaigns.
What kinds of companies are engaged in social media marketing?
According to the recent 2009 Digital Readiness Report by iPressroom, large brands are drawing the most coverage of their SMM campaigns but it is the Small to Medium-sized Businesses (SMB) that are the most active (3). The adoption of Twitter at SMBs is 64% versus 47% at larger organizations. Social networking is adopted by 74% of SMBs versus 38% for larger organizations (4).
By: Jad SaabWill Armstrong Scott Lake
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETINGAT THE LARGEST BRANDS IN THE WORLD
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Go to www.swixhq.com to see a social media dashboard for
all the brands in this report.
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What tools are brands using?
In this report, we have documented the social media campaigns of some of the largest brands in the world. The most used tools were as expected: Blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube. Although many of the brands use other tools too, the above five are by far the most prevalent in the SMM landscape so they form the focus of this report.
What does this mean?
From a marketing perspective, things are changing and they are changing fast. Only a few years ago, marketing was a message broadcast to ‘recipients’ who barely talked to one another. Today, the way people share opinions and interact with favorite brands has fundamentally changed. According to Universal McCann’s recent study, “When did we start trusting strangers?”, the result is an influence economy that forces brand owners and the public to be more honest, transparent and conversational. Marketing communications must be rethought, from now on the conversation is, for the most part, dictated by consumers (5).
How are the largest brands in the world using social media marketing?
Many of the largest brands in the world have connected with their customer communities through some of the most interesting and innovative SMM campaigns ever seen. For the purposes of this study, the following brands’ SMM will be discussed:
• Adidas• Disney• Starbucks• Dell• Google• Microsoft
• Reuters• Nike• SAP• Intel• Blackberry• Oracle
The SMM campaigns of the above listed companies use a standard social media toolkit that includes blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube. The following sections will examine the different ways that each of those tools can be used as part of an SMM campaign.
BlogsMany large brands use blogs to provide updated content to the customer community. Two commonly implemented solutions are the use of multiple blogs tied into the specific website / product / service to which they are related (e.g. Microsoft) or the use of a metablog that aggregates all blogs in one place and links to the multiple online properties and communities they serve. Adidas, Starbucks, Google, and Nike all have very different but equally engaging blogs. The single common denominator: they all work in service of their respective communities.
Adidas Basketball Bloghttp://www.adidas.com/campaigns/basketball2008/content/index.asp?strCountry_Adidascom=us#/home/
Adidas' basketball website / blog exudes, first and foremost, a love for the game. As is common in sporting-gear ad campaigns, there are pictures and videos of celebrity athletes endorsing the latest and greatest gear. However, Adidas takes their involvement a few steps further. The 'Brotherhood Blogs', for example, feature Q&A interviews with NBA rookies, chats with coaches, and playoff updates from the players themselves. For a personal experience, site visitors can sign-up for customizable voicemail alerts, text alerts, and ringtones pre-recorded by famous NBA-ers. The focus is on 'brotherhood' - basketball-lovers coming together whether they're established professionals or up-and-coming grade-schoolers.
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The concept of ‘brotherhood’ represents a community of athletes directly associated with the Adidas brand. The blog is inclusive for all levels of players and facilitates interaction with others who share their passion for basketball.
My Starbucks Ideahttp://myStarbucksidea.force.com
Starbucks’ ‘My Starbucks Idea’ site brings vocal customers to its door-step. Comments and suggestions posted by customers form the core of the uncluttered blog. Customers can then vote for their favorite ideas, help Starbucks refine those that rank highly, and follow the company's progress in implementing them. Starbucks lends credibility to the site by making voting-results publicly visible and taking action accordingly. At the end of the day, the company gets a better understanding of what it's doing well and which improvements are in-demand while customers are empowered to influence the direction of the large, global corporation. It's a win-win situation.
Starbucks has chosen to serve a specific community of people who are passionate about their Starbucks experience. The community is made up of people who want to provide valuable feedback and ideas. As compared to Adidas, this approach is much more direct. Creating a community around improving customer experience is ingenious given that, whenever a customer’s suggestion is implemented, the result is a great degree of goodwill across the entire community. Although the idea of using customer feedback is not new, making the empowerment of customers the central theme of a blog is a drastic change from the past. The very idea of the site can engage customers even if they don’t contribute to its content…the fact that user-driven changes take place is empowering in itself.
Google Bloghttp://Googleblog.blogspot.com
With a simple, back-to-basics blog, Google conveys their interest in what they do and presents a solid case as to why their readers should be interested too. Topics range from updates on the business end of things, developments in existing products, and insight into upcoming projects. The posts tend to balance the technical and conversational with enough detail to peak one’s curiosity. There is also a consistent effort to link their online tools to the greater good…how will this make peoples’ lives better? Highlighting the people-centric nature of their technologies is engaging since it tells readers’ that its in their best interest to be proactive contributors to Google’s conversations.
Google’s strategy for its blog is of particular interest because so many people care about what Google does and would like to influence the company’s product directions. The core concept that runs through the blog is that the company is doing its best to do good for its customers. Since many companies much smaller than Google employ a top-down broadcast approach, it is a ‘breath of fresh air’ to see a huge company like Google doing its best to engage with its customers. The hallmarks of their blog are authenticity and writers who genuinely believe in what they are doing. Consequently, it comes across as ‘real’, in the truest sense of the word, and one of the reasons why it is so well regarded.
Nike Running Blog http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikeplus/en_US/plus/#//dashboard/
Nike’s running website caters to the running community with sections on training, important running news, and promotions for events like the Nike+ Human Race (a combination of charity fundraiser, urban race, and party). The strong community is most apparent in the Nike+ section of the site. Amongst other things, a profile on the site allows users to log their run statistics, follow carefully designed training regimes, propose running challenges to one other, and discuss their sport (and their gear) via a forum. Having launched the very popular Nike+ product, Nike has created online tools that ensure a continued relationship with their customers who, in turn, can better pursue their athletic goals within a supportive community.
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Nike uses a similar approach as Adidas for its blog, but has taken it a step further. Nike’s features enable their readers to interact with each other in real life by organizing local runs. One of the most effective uses of social media is bringing people together in ‘real life’ (e.g. organizing local runs) then allowing them to grow those ‘real life’ relationships online. In this case, the Nike running blog facilitates rich connections between people, both online and in ‘real life’.
What can be learned from this?
The key to success for large brands’ blogs is not an incredible amount of money to spend – it’s a consistent focus on providing value to its own community. Nike and Adidas both do this very well. As a businessperson, the key to making a blog successful is to do the same - find out what is of value to the customer community and provide them with ‘more of that’. Sometimes, this may not be directly related to a product. Of course, there’s a good chance that, in the long run, Adidas and Nike’s support of their communities will lead to more fans, greater loyalty, and improved product sales.
FacebookFrom an SMM point of view, Facebook fan sites have been a bit of a disappointment. Many organizations employ very basic strategies such as using fan sites to ‘push’ content from other locations. A few top brands try to give fan sites a personal feel by asking fans questions and providing some customer service. For the most part though, organizations have done a poor job, using Facebook as a dumping ground for unoriginal social media content.
Facebook’s ingenuity is partially responsible for the ‘dumping’ effect. Adding content is very easy so pages can be populated quickly and appear active even if they are not. The following are a few examples of innovative uses of Facebook in SMM by Disney, Microsoft, Nike, and Oracle.
Disneyhttp://www.Facebook.com/Disney
Since it was founded in 1923, Disney has had a rich history with generations of fans. Its Facebook profile makes this known with historical footage alongside more recent videos. In effect, Facebook-ers ‘experience’ the journey of one of the world’s most established media and entertainment companies. A simple status-update that asks, “What is your favourite Disney movie?” strikes a chord of nostalgia amongst older generations while an announcement for an upcoming Mickey Mouse video game appeals to the youngest crowds. If the number of fans is any indication, Disney is in great shape on Facebook, but more importantly, judging by the volume of comments on the ‘Fan Board’, many of those fans take their involvement quite seriously.
Disney’s fan page success stems from providing value to its most loyal fans by allowing them to access rare and exclusive Disney content. The vintage content, in particular, allows fans to see the company’s history in full since it was in existence well before the advent of social media.
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Microsofthttp://www.Facebook.com/windows
Microsoft Windows’ Facebook page makes great use of Facebook’s features. Aside from the ‘Wall’ (where there’s lots of interaction between the company and its customers through contests, links etc.), there are many additional tabs that make the page rich in useful and interesting content. Examples include the ‘Spotlight’ tab, featuring great deals on software, the ‘Win7 Meetups’ tab, which uses a map to show the stops on the Windows 7 U.S. tour, and the ‘Follow Us’ tab, which makes the latest information from Microsoft’s other social media sources visible in Facebook. With so much to explore, Microsoft increases the likelihood of Facebook-ers finding something interesting and joining the Windows community.
Microsoft is a great example of a company using Facebook to its full potential. In addition to the tabs mentioned above, the page includes:
Info: Basic company informationWorldwide: Links to country specific fan pagesWin7 is Here: Community comments on Windows 7PC Toolbox: Ways to build your perfect PCYouTube: All Windows videos from YouTubePhotos: Photos from Windows 7 events from all over the worldDiscussions: Windows 7 discussion groupsEmerging Filmmakers: Contest for short videosPolls: Simple pollsStudent Offers: Offers for discounted software for studentsEvents: Windows 7 launch eventsWindows Ambassador: Contests for Windows ambassadorsVideo: Lots of Windows 7 videos
With their rich fan site, Microsoft keeps fans up-to-date on all that is happening. At over 230,000 fans, the company has been quite successful with their approach. The disadvantage, however, is the immense amount of time, money and effort required to maintain such an active page. For the most part, this type of campaign is not feasible for the average SMB.
Nike http://www.facebook.com/Nikestore
Nike's Facebook page seems to take the 'something for everyone' approach. For those who are technically inclined, there are behind-the-scenes videos on the development of high-tech products. The people involved in developing these products are sometimes featured in the videos, allowing viewers to meet some of the passionate individuals within this massive organization. For those who are interested in professional-athletes who endorse the brand, there are videos to get to know them better. For those who live and breathe sports, organizations that use sports to change communities can be nominated for grants as part of the company's 'Back Your Block' program. Although selling Nike products is clearly part of the goal, the building of a community with a shared passion seems to be just as important. The biggest strength of the Nike Facebook strategy is its attempt to humanize a very large brand. Showcasing designers who make Nike products helps buyers attach faces to a purchase, increasing the ‘feel-good’ of the purchase. This strategy has been used by a few big brands in the past, such as Microsoft where Robert Scoble humanized the company using video blogging as part of the Channel 9 MSDN team. Nike recognizes that all athletes are driven by passion and, as a result, many of their social media properties promote the theme of passion.
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Oraclehttp://www.Facebook.com/Oracle
On their Facebook page, Oracle makes it clear that they are listening to what their customers have to say. This comes across in their frequent status updates, responses to comments, and videos that directly address how they've accounted for customer feedback in their new products. They take a casual approach (with occasional doses of humor and emoticons) that lends itself to more personal interactions with customers. The sense of community is revealed in the hype surrounding events like the Oracle OpenWorld Convention (due in part to a related video contest and free streaming of programming from the event).
Unlike many large brands, Oracle has found a way to interact with customers on a more personal level. In the past, help centers were the only opportunity for personal interaction with customers. The emergence of Facebook and Twitter in particular has changed this dynamic. By supporting an active presence on Facebook that is focused on customer interaction, Oracle has made itself immensely more approachable. Customers know that, when they ask Oracle questions, they will generally get responses. As a ‘by-product’ of this strategy, the Oracle Facebook site has also evolved into a place where passionate Oracle users can find one another.
In addition to its Facebook presence, Oracle runs a vibrant internal social network as well as several Twitter accounts. Their strategy, at its core, is to position the company in the middle of its customer communities.
What can be learned from this?
Ultimately, organizations need to be active wherever their customer communities are active. Facebook is an extremely flexible medium when it comes to connecting with customers. It allows for promotion of many aspects of a company.
It’s important to keep in mind that every product has a potential community on Facebook. Supporting the customer community should be the primary goal of every organization and Facebook is an excellent place to start.
FlickrFlickr is a popular photo-sharing site that allows users to post photos and participate in groups with shared photography interests. For the most part, organizations using Flickr successfully are ones that have easily photographed products. However, Flickr is very flexible and should be considered as part of any SMM campaign.
Disneyhttp://www.Flickr.com/groups/waltDisneyworld/
The pictures on the ‘Walt Disney World’ Flickr page present Disney’s recreational resorts in all their glory. There are discussion posts in which users discuss the type of photography equipment they should bring on their vacations. Clearly the photogenic-resorts offer avid photographers plenty of reasons to spend time capturing great photos. The company reaps the benefits in the form of a flattering visual presence online. For the most part, only companies offering something inherently photogenic end-up with a Flickr page as rich as Disney’s.
Googlehttp://www.Flickr.com/groups/gmaps/
Based on the ‘Google Earth, Maps & Mash-ups’ Flickr page, it appears that the company’s products have artistically inspired many. Members of the public group post images and screen captures from Google Earth and Google Maps, finding beauty in photographs of landscapes (generally aerial) from around the world. By sharing their finds, the powerful capabilities of Google’s products are put on display.
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The use of mashup photos is a great idea and works very well for Google since the creations of users are, for the most part, very interesting. Unfortunately, this strategy can really only work if your product or service lends itself to mashups.
Nike http://www.Flickr.com/groups/Nikeairjordan/
In comparison to some other athletic brands, the ‘Nike Air Jordan’ Flickr page suggests that Air Jordan fans take extra care to properly light and frame their shoes before taking pictures of them. Discussions about Air Jordan shoe collections make it clear that the products have a serious following, which might explain the effort that goes into photographing them. In the end, Nike’s product is presented in ‘a better light’, literally.
The Nike Air Jordan Flickr community exemplifies the serious passion that some customers develop for their favorite products. This type of passion does not come easily and is always supported by substantial customer community building efforts.
Blackberryhttp://www.Flickr.com/groups/Blackberryaddicts/
On the Blackberry Addicts Flickr page, users post many images of actual Blackberry devices as a way to express their attachment to the product. Other pictures on the page flaunt the devices’ ability to take decent quality photos (which may make carrying a stand-alone camera unnecessary) and highlight the convenience of having a Blackberry camera handy at all times for those spontaneous moments. The resulting publicity is generally positive for Blackberry.
The Blackberry Flickr group is another example of ‘Nike-style’ passion. The Blackberry’s added advantage is its camera, a convenient feature for a customer community that wants to share its experiences with, and passion for, the device.
What can be learned from this?
Flickr is a powerful tool for products that are physical goods - something that can be photographed. Many product companies solicit user photos of their products but this is usually only successful if a passionate customer community already supports the product. Service companies will have a harder time finding utility with Flickr but it’s still useful in presenting, for example, pictures of special occasions, community involvement, and people. Flickr is great at giving a human face to a company that would otherwise be unseen by its customers.
TwitterTwitter is the most common social media property used by organizations. Twitter profiles are often created for each division of the organization. Much like Facebook, the profiles are often used to ‘push’ links to (company related) content, announce contests, and interact with customers. However, its most common use is real time customer service. In the past, it would have been rare for a customer to call or email a large organization over a small problem. Today, people Tweet about all sorts of questions and concerns specifically related to products and services that they use. This provides an opportunity for large organizations to converse directly with their customer community at times when customer satisfaction is particularly important.
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Adidashttp://twitter.com/Adidasrunning
With only the brand’s signature three-stripes adorning the black background, Adidas’ Twitter profile is simple but familiar. The topics on the profile are varied, ranging from product discussions to important news in the running world (like updates from the Berlin Marathon). The conversations tend to be two-way - the many re-Tweets suggest that Adidas’ Tweeters are listening to their customers and not just saying things to them.
Adidas’s Twitter strategy is one of participation. The company is present at the same running events as their community. This shared experience allows them to be part of rich discussions in which company Tweeters come across as runners rather than just marketing people. Again, this strategy plays to passion which is consistent with all of Adidas’ social media properties.
Disneyhttp://twitter.com/DisneyPixar
Disney-Pixar’s Twitter profile lists plenty of links to keep their followers ‘in the loop’. For example, there are links to recruiting events for animators, fan reinterpretations of popular soundtrack songs, and chances to meet the people behind the latest animated flicks. In fact, there are many Tweets recognizing individuals within Disney-Pixar for their accomplishments, like winning the Humanitas Award for the film ‘Wall-E’. With many followers and frequent Tweets, the company is doing a good job of staying in touch with its fan-base.
Disney knows that people are passionate about their animated movies. They also know that, by continually engaging fans with information that’s hard to find elsewhere, they can help fuel that passion and, in turn, expand their fan-base.
Dell http://twitter.com/DellOutlet
There is no shortage of discount codes on the Dell Outlet Twitter profile, a great way to reward individuals who stay engaged in the brand’s community. Customer support is another major use of the profile…it seems as though the majority of Tweets are helpful responses to customer feedback. Overall, the company’s profile is likely to leave a positive impression on its visitors, whether they’re getting special deals on Dell purchases or getting help resolving their technical issues.
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Interestingly enough, Dell is the only major brand that has recognized Twitter’s ability to convert readers into customers by disseminating discounts and offers. The process is much the same as email marketing in that traffic to a landing page can be fully tracked from an ROI point of view which is how Dell has attributed sales of over $2 million directly to its Twitter strategy (6). The company’s understanding of the benefits of Twitter has made it one of the largest corporate users of the site on the planet. Dell currently runs dozens of Twitter accounts for many of its product lines and has a team dedicated to engaging its customer community.
Google http://twitter.com/Googlereader
The Google Reader Twitter profile clearly prioritizes users of the product. The majority of Tweets are suggestions on how to make the most of the product, responses to users’ questions and concerns, or direct questions to followers asking for ideas on improvements to make. The Google Product Ideas website helps organize those ideas and bring the ones with the highest votes to the forefront.
Google has chosen a more ‘traditional’ approach to Twitter for its Google Reader profile, using it primarily for customer service and customer suggestions. This is one of the only places where real-time interaction with the company is possible. The company has several Twitter accounts and all follow essentially the same guidelines for customer service.
Microsofthttp://twitter.com/MSWindows
On the Microsoft Windows profile, the lead-up to the release of Windows 7 was very active. Tweets highlight new features of the operating system, often posing rhetorical questions about them to entice followers to click on links and learn more. There is also a concerted effort to keep followers satisfied with timely answers to questions about the new product. Of course, the software give-aways help too.
Microsoft has “taken a page” from the Dell playbook and have developed an extensive marketing strategy for promoting the Windows 7 launch. The strategy includes well-developed social media content that showcases the most interesting features of the operating system.
What can be learned from this?
Minimal overhead and quick set-up are part of the reason for Twitter’s popularity. It’s generally as simple as creating an account, promoting the presence of the account, and keeping the community informed. From there, the specifics of using the service depend on how a organization would like to interact with their community.
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YouTubeYouTube is the most popular video-sharing on the internet. The most common use of YouTube channels is posting promotional material and providing insight into an organization’s offerings, organizational culture, products, and the ‘people behind the logo’.
The most viewed channels were related to media companies (e.g. trailers, short films, events etc.) and to interesting promotional video content of product companies (e.g. Adidas Originals’ party commercial and other sports related advertising by Adidas and Nike).
With YouTube, the goal comes down to brand awareness, company relations, customer service (e.g. tutorials), or some combination of them. Brand awareness focuses on a high view count to spread a company’s name and put its products on display. Company relations include interviews with high-ranking employees, conference videos, and work environment videos that encourage viewers to take an interest in the workings of the company while attracting future employees. Customer service is centered on product demonstrations, how-to tutorials, examples of features, and other support that leads to satisfied customers.
Adidas http://www.YouTube.com/user/Adidasfootballtv
The ‘Adidas Football TV’ YouTube channel proves that the company knows how to take a theme and create an experience around it (the same holds true for their ‘Adidas Originals’ and ‘Adidas Basketball’ channels). The Football channel’s background is what first grabs the eye, paying homage to Frank Miller-esque graphic-novels (think “Sin City”). A series of dramatic videos in the same vein simultaneously celebrate the world’s greatest players while promoting the latest Adidas products. Based on the comments on the channel, Adidas’ YouTube audience is impressed and consequently makes their love for the brand known. Adidas uses its football channel as an on-demand marketing platform for all that is football and Adidas. The production quality is high and very costly, giving the channel a professional feel. It’s unlikely that the average SMB would be able to create videos of this quality. With that said, high production quality is not a prerequisite for effective videos provided that their messages are well delivered.
Starbucks http://www.YouTube.com/user/Starbucks
On its YouTube channel, Starbucks treats the release of the new VIA product (instant coffee) as a chance to further engage with its fan-base. A short, elegant video asks customers to share their preferred places to use VIA and offers the chance to win a prize in return. A map shows the different stops a Starbucks VIA promotion team will make as it travels across North America and asks customers to take part in person or via Twitter. Aside from VIA-specific content, the channel is set-up for finding information about the company and its products with ease (e.g. playlists are used to group videos by theme) which is likely one of the reasons for its high view counts.
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The Starbucks VIA campaign on YouTube is amazing because it documents community participation. Posting videos of the company engaging with its customers is a great use of a platform like YouTube. For the most part, this type of campaign has a ‘reality show’ feel to it which effectively reduces the distance between corporation and customer.
Windowshttp://www.YouTube.com/user/windowsvideos
A stylish ‘reel’ of video thumbnails greets visitors to the Windows YouTube channel, the theme of which can be changed with the click of a tab. Below, playlists organize videos covering all things Windows 7, from ‘how-to’ tips to launch party celebrations by fans. If channel comments are any indication, the Windows 7 hype is catching-on.
Microsoft is using YouTube to highlight Windows 7’s successes and promote the need to upgrade to the new operating system. Their campaign uses many different kinds of videos to create the perception of a groundswell movement. This strategy is quite common in all types of marketing but YouTube makes it very easy to promote many different kinds of videos which all have the same overall goal.
SAPhttp://www.YouTube.com/user/SAPCommunities
With a stated aim of “harnessing the collective power of developers, partners, customers, business process experts and others…”, it makes sense that the videos on SAP’s ‘Communities of Innovation’ profile feature speakers from a variety of backgrounds. Examples include SAP customers vouching for the importance of online SAP communities and special guests (such as the founder of LinkedIn) shedding light on the changing face of social networking. The profile seems to be on the right track in engaging the many people involved in the SAP community to “usher in the new era of enterprise service-oriented architecture”.
SAP’s YouTube strategy is very diverse in that it highlights different aspects of the business and its customer community. This adds ‘depth’ to the company…it’s important to put forward a balanced image of ‘who’ a company is and ‘what’ it does, something SAP does a great job of.
Intel #1http://www.YouTube.com/user/channelIntel
This report highlights three different Intel channels that have little to do with manufacturing computer chips. The light-hearted 2009 ‘Sponsors of Tomorrow’ ad campaign focuses on the company’s unique culture rather than new products. The ‘Intel Inspire’ group features videos in which employees discuss why they’re inspired by their work while the ‘Intel STS08’ (Science Talent Search 2008) group presents some up-and-coming pre-college scientists recognized by Intel awards and scholarships. The videos, in general, are casual yet professional and create considerable online conversation related to Intel’s technologies and the company as a whole.
Intel #2http://www.YouTube.com/user/IntelExtremeMasters
As the head sponsor of “Intel Extreme Masters” (a global league of electronic sports champions), this YouTube channel allows Intel to keep in touch with some of their most demanding gaming customers. There are many videos capturing, among other things, heated-moments in competition and interviews that introduce the channel’s community to some of the world’s most famous gamers, putting faces to their screen-names. By supporting and documenting very popular gaming events, the company becomes an important part of the gaming community while helping to strengthen it.
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Intel #3http://www.YouTube.com/user/Intelfilmfestival
The ‘Intel Virtual Film Festival’ YouTube channel is dedicated exclusively to the Intel-sponsored contest. Contestants from around the world were invited to submit creative videos to compete for a laptop prize and a chance to travel to Venice. Instead of only receiving content from participants, the channel posted content as well in the form of videos with filming tricks and tips suitable for beginner and experienced filmmakers alike. Intel’s contest drew some great community participation and showed aspiring filmmakers on YouTube what can be accomplished with some basic home-computing technologies. Obviously, this kind of dedication to promoting a company through video requires a considerable financial investment but, as with most YouTube campaigns, it’s the message that’s important. In this case, Intel’s people-focus is the fundamental message, revealed by showcasing the company’s culture and by giving-back to its customers through ‘Intel Extreme Masters’ and ‘Intel Virtual Film Festival’.
What can be learned from this?
YouTube allows companies to create videos to represent themselves in any number of ways. As with most SMM, the important part is the first step - getting started and doing something. Videos are great for this because the technology is fairly straightforward and a good idea generally translates well to the medium.
Tracking ROIThe Return on Investment (ROI) of SMM has been somewhat elusive since the beginning of the social web. This is partly due to the fact that the traffic and buzz that gets created is rarely on a corporate website. Instead, it tends to occur on sites like the ones mentioned above (YouTube, Facebook etc.). Popular brands often assume that there is an ROI because of SMM’s potential in expanding a brand’s reach. However, many of the aforementioned campaigns likely have little or no quantifiable ROI.
Ultimately, campaigns cost money and their effectiveness needs to be measured in some way. To be able to calculate true social media ROI, organizations need to do at least one of the following two things:
1) Quantify the results of their efforts relative to how much money they have spent
2) Link their social media results to future sales
Since most social media usage statistics are public, quantifying results is possible. Therefore, determining the ROI of SMM campaigns is possible as well. In its simplest form, SMM ROI can be calculated by dividing the cost of a campaign by the number of views, friends, or followers that the campaign achieved to arrive at a cost per statistic. YouTube is a great example of this since it is common to assess videos by view counts. If a YouTube video costs $5000 dollars to produce and it generates 200,000 views for a brand, the cost per view is 2.5 cents.
But what does the viewing of the video actually do? That is a much better question. If watching an online video is treated like watching a TV commercial, the ROI will remain relatively unknown because of the disconnect between watching the video and performing a quantifiable action. However, if a causal relationship can be established (eg. watching the video and, as a result, going to visit a specific site), then we are much closer to being able to determine ROI.
Since almost all social media properties have unique URLs, SMM is perfect for exposing causal relationships. For example, a user may read a Tweet and follow a link which brings them to the owner’s website to perform some task or conversion. The initial Tweet can be associated with the visit to the specific website and completion of the specific task. If the task is to buy something, then that the original Tweet has a quantifiable ROI.
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Currently, most organizations are just scratching the surface in terms of quantifying social media metrics as they relate to ROI. The next step is to incorporate such techniques as embedding links and landing pages into their campaigns, similar to what is being done in email marketing campaigns.
Whats Next?
The true mathematical ROI of SMM campaigns can only be measured when causal relationships can be established between social media content and conversions on a related business website.
In the future, it would be great to expand ROI measurements to include customer satisfaction or customer passion. However, in the short term, being able to determine how much user traffic from a SMM campaign is directed to a specific site is a great starting point.
Social media marketingat the largest brands in the world
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About SWIX:SWIX helps companies measure the ROI of their social media marketing campaigns. We're totally committed to building applications that help social media marketers do their jobs more efficiently and we love what we do.
SWIX tracks, trends and allows you to share metrics from the following social media applications:
You can find SWIX online at:
http://www.swixhq.comhttp://www.twitter.com/swixhqhttp://blog.swixhq.comhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/swixapphttp://www.youtube.com/user/swixapp
Contact SWIX:
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EndnotesS
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1 http://www.edelman.com/trust/2009/docs/Trust_Book_Final_2.pdf
2 http://www.universalmccann.com/Assets/strangers_reportLR_20080924101433.pdf
3 2009 Digital Readiness Report – Essential Online Public Relations and Marketing Skills - http://www.ipressroom.com/pr/corporate/document/ipr_2009_Digital_Readiness_final.pdf -Page 7
4 2009 Digital Readiness Report – Essential Online Public Relations and Marketing Skills - http://www.ipressroom.com/pr/corporate/document/ipr_2009_Digital_Readiness_final.pdf -Page 7
5 When did we Start trusting strangers – Universal McCann - http://www.universalmccann.com/Assets/strangers_reportLR_20080924101433.pdf - Page 4
6 @DellOutlet Surpasses $2 Million on Twitter - http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2009/06/11/delloutlet-surpasses-2-million-on-twitter.aspx
