My Digital Soapbox

"The nature of change is changing because the flow and control of information has become turbulent,..."

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:27:51 -0400

“The nature of change is changing because the flow and control of information has become turbulent, no longer flowing top down, but flowing in every direction at all times. This means that the ability to manage and lead change is no longer based on messaging, communication and traditional sponsorship. Rather it is based on processes of informing, enrolling and adapting that are significantly more disruptive and difficult to manage for executives and leaders. - Mark McDonald, Gartner (April, 2010)”

- http://blogs.gartner.com/mark_mcdonald/2010/04/12/the-nature-of-change-is-changing-the-new-pattern/

Tobias Peggs: Facebook retargeting, what Twitter should do next, and why this is just the beginning of a magical moment in mobile...

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 11:11:56 -0500

Tobias Peggs: Facebook retargeting, what Twitter should do next, and why this is just the beginning of a magical moment in mobile...:

tobiaspeggs:

I got retargeted on Facebook today – and it was magical.

Here’s what happened. I wanted to buy a Ted Baker gingham check sports shirt. So first I went to Google and searched for “Ted Baker gingham check sports shirt”. That’s a pretty explicit signal indicating that I’m looking to buy a pretty…

This is the future of effective advertising. Native, audience segmentation, retargeting.

Clothesline: Apple TV's Coming For Your Living Room

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:14:54 -0500

Clothesline: Apple TV's Coming For Your Living Room:

lsclothesline:

Glad to hear that HBO Go is coming to Apple TV. It looks like Apple is starting to spend some of that monstrous cash hoard on content. It’s the only thing stopping them from disrupting TV.

The “Apple can’t get content” argument has never made sense. Apple can buy ANY content it wants. It…

I’m ready for the takeover!

Eve 6’s new video is really fun. Check it out below, and...

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:15:15 -0500

Eve 6’s new video is really fun. Check it out below, and then be sure to check out the “making of” to see how it was done. Great concept.

Help promote the new Curtain music video by #Eve6 and win an iPod and other prizes! http://eve6curtain.fearlessrecords.com

Clothesline: Lost In the iOS 6 Maps Hype: The Implications of Yelp Integration

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 20:34:18 -0400

Clothesline: Lost In the iOS 6 Maps Hype: The Implications of Yelp Integration:

A snippet of what I recently wrote for the blog.

Since the announcement of iOS 6, the media narrative has centered around Apple severing ties with Google and developing their own maps product. Now that iOS 6 is finally in the hands of the public, the narrative has shifted to the shortcomings of the new Maps app, with critics pointing to the lack of transit integration or street view.

But I’m here to tell you about a feature of Maps that has huge implications for users, small businesses and big brands - Yelp integration.

Check it out!

"Execute against who you want to be because it’s the only life that you have. Period. You are..."

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 10:51:00 -0400

“Execute against who you want to be because it’s the only life that you have. Period. You are going to be desperately, desperately sad when you’re 70 and you didn’t do the shit you wanted to. If you do one thing - one call to action - find three to ten random 70-100 year old people that you don’t know and ask them about their life. When you see the pain in their eyes when they didn’t do the shit they wanted, PROMISE ME that you won’t do that.”

- Gary Vaynerchuk (The last 45 seconds of the video)

Riffing On Brands Being Human. And Whatnot.

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 18:42:00 -0400

Note: this entire exercise was spurred on by a lazy Sunday login to Facebook. There is no intention to classify any of the below brands as “good” or “bad” in the social media space. (All views are my own - thus the name of the blog being “My Digital Soapbox.”)

Since that’s out of the way - take a look at some of what greeted me when I logged in to Facebook today:

Are the above examples ways for brands to build meaningful relationships with consumers in a digital world? The simplicity certainly drives people to click like, share and possibly comment… But maybe building a relationship that is contingent upon and quantified by likes/shares/comments isn’t really building a relationship at all. This might not be how those brands ALWAYS engage, but it is generally accepted that the “simple CTA” drives engagement on Facebook. And it does - based on Facebook metrics.

But is it possible for brands to have RELATIONSHIPS with human beings? I’m betting yes, although it will take a lot of learning from the brands that try to build authentic relationships around passion points. It will also take patience when the “counting stats” aren’t there.

This update from Petsmart might not be getting great engagement, but it is shows a bit of promise (even if it ends up falling a bit short):

The post clearly targets a niche audience that likes to dress up their pet. I’m assuming that niche audience of hardcore pet owners is somehow lucrative in the Petsmart business and driving to Pinterest is a great way to connect them socially.

Unfortunately, it ultimately fails, because it gets too complicated. Driving offsite from Facebook is a always a bit tricky, and in this case, seems to have been bungled a bit. Petsmart appears to have created a hashtag on Pinterest, but when clicking on that hashtag, there aren’t any results:

In this case, they would have been better off just promoting the boards that already exist on Petsmart’s Pinterest page and using the Facebook post to drive an intended engagement on Pinterest. As constructed now, I’m confused about what to do next.

And their boards on Pinterest are WAY too sales-ey:

If you’re managing a branded social channel, just remember to keep it human.

Now, things are going to get a LITTLE bit self-serving, so stop reading if you don’t want to read about a similar Facebook engagement, but by a brand that I’m working with.

In the below Facebook post by T-Mobile (once again, full-disclosure - they’re a client at my agency), they’re doing something similar to Petsmart - trying to connect hardcore “phoneographers” on Instagram:

You’ll notice the Facebook status drives offsite (once again, tricky), but the intended consumer actions are clearly outlined. The link drives to a web view of the Instagram hashtag “IGers_TMobile” (using web.stagram, since Instagram hasn’t built out a desktop web presence):

The above screen grab was taken tonight (one week later). But at the time of the Facebook post, the hashtag HAD already been populated thanks to a branded Instagram post two days earlier:

And now it is an ongoing way for T-Mobile to engage with a more hardcore segment of customers and potential customers.

There will always be room for the “lightweight” engagement (I hate that term) that plays the Facebook game of driving engagement to chase a mystery algorithm:

But at least this “like-bait” is driving interaction with photos taken by real human beings (not just the brand), using the current “hero” device in T-Mobile’s lineup (The HTC One S).

Foursquare As a Local Discovery Engine - The Game-Changer I've Been Waiting For

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 17:42:45 -0400

“Soon success and failure in the mobile app world will depend on developers building a user experience that is simple and intuitive – something that will use an advanced technology to make a process more efficient. A natural extension of our brains.”

Yes, I’m starting out a blog post with something I wrote a few months ago on the Big Fuel Content To Commerce Blog. It might be self-serving, but I’m especially satisfied after this week’s launch of the new Foursquare app. The new emphasis on local discovery shows that Foursquare is on the right path to success and that they understand the shift in human behavior regarding recommendations via mobile technologies. Foursquare is clearly working hard to solve the “problem” I outlined in the above-linked piece with their new “Explore” features.

From a brand marketing perspective, I’m especially excited about the new merchant program that they’ll be rolling out later this summer as a second phase of this app redesign (as reported by Mashable):

Though Foursquare revealed last month that it has big changes in mind for its merchant platform, none of them appear in the new app. Eventually, merchants will have an option to purchase promoted placement of specials, and the offers will be targeted using the same technology that powers the Explore feature.

A Foursquare spokesperson told Mashable that the company will begin rolling out the first versions of the option later this summer.

As an interesting side note, merchant badges are being phased out. Before the new app rolled out, I reached out to the Foursquare “Partners” team on behalf of one of my clients, inquiring about a badge idea. I was told:

We’re winding down our partner badging program, instead allocating those same engineering resources towards building out new merchant tools (that your brand will most definitely benefit from). As such, we’re unable to engage in new partner badge programs like this.

If Foursquare continues to grow its user base, it should become the best way to connect with customers on a local level, bridging the gap between mobile/social and brick & mortar. Pretty soon, Foursquare will be another important platform for brands to consider when allocating paid media budgets, especially brands with retail stores.

In you’re looking for further reading about the “new” Foursquare, the NY Times wrote a piece about the future growth potential of the platform and Tech Crunch snagged the first interview with Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley after the launch.

A couple more thoughts about the app (along with screen grabs) are below:

Loving the new app, but why are the “friends who have been here” icons so small and not hyperlinked?!

You can now “like” places, comments and tips. Data that will surely be incorporated in Foursquare’s “Explore” recommendation engine.

Facebook Isn't Working For Brands? It's Because They're Doing It Wrong!

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:53:00 -0400

Please note: this post was written on Sunday, September 18, before Facebook tweaked their user interface and then “became profoundly changed.” However, the ideas and strategies here remain unchanged for the time being. Interestingly enough on September 23, a thought piece by Brian Solis was published on Harvard Business Review, giving further credence to my thoughts below .

I recently came across a study stating that Facebook isn’t working for brands (via Social Media Today) and I felt compelled to chime in.

Facebook isn’t working for brands because too many brands are DOING IT WRONG! Before trying to figure out when to make Facebook posts or how to make them, brands need to step back and understand what motivates someone to engage with a Facebook page.

Without citing any studies, let’s think like a consumer for a moment. Why do YOU visit or engage with a brand or business’ Facebook page? (I’m not asking about why you originally “liked” the page, I’m asking about what makes you ENGAGE with that page). I bet you’ll answer in one of the following ways:

1) To search for coupons or exclusive deals
2) To make your voice heard about a customer service experience

(note: according to an official study cited in the HBR story linked above, the top two reasons are actually 1) To receive discounts (61%) 2) To make purchases (55%) )

Anyway, you’re probably NOT visiting a brand page to read about the latest marketing initiative written up in a social media-friendly tone and plastered on the wall. When visiting brand Facebook pages, I see FAR too much of that.

That being said, here are some steps to take to increase your brand’s Facebook engagement:

Immediately dedicate an entire team to manage your Facebook page (along with other important social media channels). The goal is to build a team that will engage in a genuine dialogue with customers who are taking time out of their busy lives to “talk” to your brand using social media. I don’t care if it is an internal team, or an external team. What matters is that the team understands one basic premise - in social media, you’re turning over the keys to your customer base and letting them steer the conversation. It’s scary, but most of the time, the wisdom of the crowds will lead to your business’ sweet spot.

Clearly define community standards for your Facebook page, stating how posts will be moderated, etc.

Define an engagement strategy for the page. To build a community and truly make your customers feel like they’re getting value out of this “social” relationship they’ve formed with your brand on a SOCIAL media site, you should aim to engage with as many comments and posts as possible (positive AND negative).

Define an escalation strategy for customer service issues that can’t be handled by the social media team. Again, this type of engagement and attention takes a TEAM, not a person. It also probably requires a social media management system.

Work with your marketing and promotions team to develop deals that reward people for taking time out of their lives to interact with your brand on Facebook. These deals shouldn’t be recycled, and they shouldn’t be “deals” that are intended to drive a customer to a point of sale where they can be tricked into buying something they don’t need. If you want to form a meaningful and SOCIAL relationship, an exchange of value needs to occur.

Analyze the marketing calendar for the next year and determine which initiatives align with the lifestyle interests of your customers. If a marketing program can’t do this, social media isn’t the optimal channel for it. The goal here is to drive genuine conversations around non-product stories. These lifestyle posts should be graded on level of engagement and on the sentiment of the conversation. This takes creativity and a deep understanding of your brand’s target audience and is not a “quick win.” Even when armed with audience analytics, much of this will be a test and learn - connecting customers around passion points on a brand page isn’t easy work. Learning about new products or marketing initiative via Facebook (or any other social media channel) isn’t valuable for a customer - they can find that information elsewhere. Customers DO get extra value out of a brand’s Facebook page when an interesting post shows up in their newsfeed and allows them to engage in lively conversation with likeminded individuals who just happen to be “fans” of the same brand.

So, when you’re not offering unique deals, timely customer service or engaging in actual two-way conversations with your customers, you should “fill in the blanks” with lifestyle content and programs that connect people around their interests and passion points.

One brand that seems to “get it” is Waffle House, and their reward is a community of engaged fans. Waffle House curates galleries of customer and staff-submitted photos, introduces new types of waffles based on customer feedback, promotes fun and engaging marketing programs that encourage social interactions, and regularly posts hilarious and audience-relevant status updates. It isn’t a surprise that Waffle House has a relatively high percentage of core fans according to Skyttle Friends.

What do you think? Did I miss any steps in the process? Are there any brands that you follow on Facebook that seem to follow all of the above steps?

Help! Brands Have Invaded My Newly Unoptimized Facebook Newsfeed!

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:12:00 -0400

Let me start this out by saying that I’m the guy who typically makes fun of people for complaining about chances to the user interface of their favorite website or social service. I understand that human beings typically don’t like change, and even if the change will eventually be beneficial to them, it is uncomfortable and something to rebel against.

Today, I’m going to be that guy and put forth an argument against Facebook’s latest user experience overhaul. Why? Because my Facebook feed just became inundated with updates from brands and businesses. Facebook has spun it in a different way, and perhaps this wasn’t their intent, but my user experience was drastically altered for the worse when I logged in this morning.

Past Redesigns Resulted In Better Feed Optimization

As Facebook rolled out past redesigns (which were often met with user backlash), I didn’t blink. I trusted that these guys knew what they were doing, and when the “top news” and “most recent” filters were introduced, my feed became optimized. Frequently interacted friends showed up in the “top news” feed and all other updates showed up in the spam feed (otherwise known as “most recent news”). It was smart, it was efficient and I rarely missed the updates I cared about. Unfortunately for Facebook, it also meant that I spent a LOT less time on the site, generating WAY fewer impressions (and ad dollars) clicking around to various pages. It also meant that brand page updates (the people holding those valuable ad dollars) were essentially filtered out of my feed. I was getting value out of Facebook, but I don’t think Facebook was getting much value out of me.

“Smart Lists” - A Pre-Cursor To De-Optimization

After the introduction of “smart lists” last week, I suddenly noticed WAY more updates from random brands (and people) that I had friended or liked at some point, but rarely interacted with. While it was annoying, I recognized that I had made the choice to “like” those brands or “friend” those people, so instead of complaining, I simply utilized the new user interace to recreate my former optimization.

For the people I had “friended,” I was able to adjust my subscription settings (all updates, most updates, only important updates) and add them to the proper lists - essentially creating silos to filter the noise. When it came to the brands and businesses I “liked,” I was faced with a tough choice - on or off. Officially, the options for brand updates became: “hide all updates” or, if I wanted to click through to their brand page “unlike.” Filtering types of posts I’d like to see wasn’t an option, and adding them to a list wasn’t either. Still, I held out hope that with enough tweaking of subscription settings for real people and by putting the right people in my “close friends” list, my “top news” feed would eventually be optimized.

Interesting News Any Time I Visit? Not So Much

And then today’s Facebook user interface overhaul was unveiled. Suddenly, my spam feed (“recent news”) was gone forever, replaced by Facebook’s supposed curation of “top news” (based on the status updates they think I want to read based on the timing of my last visit). Facebook explained the changes, calling them “interesting news any time you visit.” All I see is a bunch of news that I don’t want to see, much of it from brand or business pages that I follow. EDIT (9/21, 11:30 AM): I just realized that there is another new option for posts that appear in the newsfeed “mark as top story.” I assume this is an attempt at allowing some control over brand status updates, but there still isn’t a “mark as uninteresting story” option. Does “hide story” train my newsfeed? That is yet to be seen.

I still have the ability to utilize my lists to see what is important to me, but by definition, it is less efficient, because it is an extra click. In addition to the unoptimized feed, I was also bombarded with an always on, real-time news ticker as part of the chat sidebar. This is good in theory - maybe I’ll see a conversation a friend is having and want to chime in. Unfortunately, it is essentially a fire hose, and one that prominently features all of the brand page status updates that are happening in real time. Sure, users can simply hide that sidebar with the click of a button, but then the chat bar also disappears.

Solutions, Not Problems

I’ve done enough complaining, here are some solutions for everybody:

For Users:

Take some time and go through your friends list. Adjust the subscription settings. Facebook is “giving you more control” (instead of just being smart), allowing you to define who you want to see more of. Take advantage of it.
Sort through ALL of the pages that you’ve liked at one point or another, and decide if you still want to “like” them (it isn’t easy to find the place to do this, so I offered step-by-step instructions in a Facebook post back in August). Unfortunately, there isn’t a place on the brand page to “hide all posts,” so if you’re not ready to “unlike” them yet, you’ll have to wait until a post from that brand shows up in your news feed to take that action.

For Brands:

Consider posting less frequently for the next couple of weeks. Sure, more eyeballs are going to be on your status updates in the near term, but you also run the risk of people “hiding all posts” by your brand if they’re like me and want an optimized news feed.
Make your status updates count. Put forth the most engaging content you have right now and get people interested and interacting with your page. Don’t give them any reason to “hide all posts”

For Facebook:

This is a SOCIAL service, where humans want to connect with humans (and some also want to connect with brands that somehow offer value to their lives). Allow users the ability to adjust their subscription level for brands, and also add them to lists. On or off isn’t user friendly, and it forces tough decisions. That’s not social. EDIT (9/21, 11:30 AM): As I mentioned in an update above, “mark as top story” is now an option for all status updates, including those by brands. While this is a step in the right direction, it still doesn’t allow complete control of the newsfeed. If “hide story” works to train my newsfeed, this needs to be made more clear.

I love that Facebook is always looking to move their service forward and keep it fresh. They’re not afraid to fail, and as the saying goes, “if you’re gonna fail, fail fast.” Today, Facebook failed, but with a few tweaks by everyone, order will be restored.

Facebook Posts And Engagement: Why Lifestyle Content Will Always Win

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:14:00 -0400

I was perusing Social Media Examiner today, and I came across an article called “7 Ways To Get Noticed On Facebook.” There were some helpful tips about “news feed optimization” (how to get your brand/business into the newsfeed of your followers) and I highly recommend reading it. However, what really inspired this post was a response below the article. The comment read as follows:

GetUsSocial 2 hours ago

It was, as usual, a great video/tips by Mari Smith. I also agree with many of the comments above and really curious to know the human behavior behind the engagement patterns i.e. why coming to a business page but only engage with non-business posts about dogs, tennis, cooking…If someone can describe the reason for this beyond ‘this is what social in the social media means’, would love to hear it..

Here’s my answer (beyond “this is what the social in social media means”):

Human beings seek out likeminded human beings to rally around similar causes and validate their beliefs. When brands/businesses are able to create lifestyle social media content that aligns with the interest graph of their followers, they see impressive engagement.

On a personal level, if I’m visiting a brand’s Facebook page, it is most likely to:
A) Look for coupons
B) Complain about something

However, I’d be more likely to stick around and interact on a Facebook page if I saw engaging content that offers value beyond being marketed to. Perhaps it is curation of interesting blog posts that relate to the brand in some (non-promotional) way. Or maybe it is poll that has a clear call to action relating to a cause. Something more than “hey check out our new product.”

Stepping back a bit, I believe social media (especially Facebook and Twitter) is most valuable to brands/businesses from a customer service and customer insights standpoint. When a brand can humanize itself and relate to the issues or ideas that their customers are sharing, they’re using social media properly. On a secondary level, social media is a great place for brands to connect their customers around lifestyle content (this is where the “engagement” metric comes into play).

If you’re a brand/business using social media as a marketing silo with the singular goal of increasing profits, you’re doing it wrong.

What do you think? Did I answer the question posed on the Social Media Examiner comment?

Privacy Isn't An Outdated Concept, But A New Privacy Paradigm Is Emerging

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:29:00 -0400

I came across a blog post by @LaurenFisher of “Simply Zesty” this morning and I felt compelled to chime in with my two cents. The crux of her piece:

The idea of privacy, I believe, will be a completely outdated notion in just a few years time as the days of being able to hide behind a pseudonym or do anything in our day to day lives without it all being trackable, archived and searchable.

Privacy itself isn’t an outdated concept, but we’re all witnessing a shift in what I call the “privacy paradigm.” As a society, technological advances and the foray into a digital existence have led us to a point where privacy has a completely different meaning for us than it did for most previous generations of civilized human beings.

This obviously has far-reaching and significant impacts across the spectrum of life from culture to commerce. In some previous blog posts here on “My Digital Soapbox,” I’ve touched on this new privacy paradigm, especially as it relates to marketing, journalism and chronicling our lives. In a post about potential social media marketing speed bumps, I had the following to say about this new privacy paradigm:

We’re getting to a point in society where a new paradigm of “privacy” is being created. People are slowly but surely seeing the benefits of an open and online social graph (what Facebook is doing with their “like” button and partnerships across the web). There are some obvious benefits to a decreased level of what we formerly considered “private” information, but there are some pitfalls as well.

New societal norms are being established based on social media and the digital world. We’re all actively participating on Twitter and Facebook and other digital forms of communication. Whether we realize it or not, we’ve also established sets of rules for what is OK and what isn’t OK to say and do in the digital world. The most savvy social media users are able to manage their online presence without a set of privacy controls instituted by the service they are using.

As much as social networks are working to “govern by the collective” and form new sets of rules for a digital world, profit-seeking entities threaten to slow the process. Brands are understandably monitoring social media, but the bubble risks being popped when brands actively invite themselves into online conversations without observing newly founded societal norms in the digital space. As much as a cable company thinks that they’re helping by barging into a conversation on Twitter or Facebook to tell us about an upcoming network dispute, they’re not. All they’re doing is being rude.

If we were in our local Starbucks with a friend talking about ESPN, we wouldn’t expect a cable company representative to randomly interrupt our conversation and tell us that ESPN might not be carried on our cable provider soon. It would be creepy. It just isn’t what is accepted in society. The privacy paradigm is shifting and digital norms are being ingrained into society as a whole.

I also mentioned the new privacy paradigm in response to the way minor league baseball reporter Josh Norris found out that a player he covers had surgery. The story went something like this:

A minor league beat reporter for the Yankees announced an injury update via Twitter, someone else asked for an injury update about another player. It turns out the other player’s injury only became public because a fan was friends with the player on Facebook. The reporter didn’t realize this, and the conversation progressed to whether or not a beat reporter should “friend” minor league players on Facebook [to gain access to potential stories].

(be sure to click through to the link if you missed that post, as I used Storify to curate the interesting debate that unfolded).

Finally, my strong feelings about the new privacy paradigm were the centerpiece of a glowing review I gave of the new social media archiving website Memolane:

As the digital age privacy paradigm becomes more ingrained in the public conscience, tools such as Memolane will become important educational tools. Back in 2010, when the Library of Congress acquired Twitter’s entire archive, LOC’s Matt Raymond wrote “Expect to see an emphasis on the scholarly and research implications of the acquisition. I’m no Ph.D., but it boggles my mind to think what we might be able to learn about ourselves and the world around us from this wealth of data.” Perhaps if teenagers become more aware of how permanent their flippant tweets can be, incidents such as the recent one involving Washington Nationals draftee Zach Houchins will be avoided in the future.

No, privacy isn’t an outdated concept, but a constantly evolving one. As we witness our family, friends, loved ones and even strangers having different experiences with the idea of “privacy,” we will adjust our expectations and behaviors. Privacy will always exist, as long as we are conscious of the societal norms and fully understand the technologies and tools at our disposal.

Interactive Ads on Pandora Are Fun & Smart - Now Make Them More Social

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:45:05 -0400

I recently became a “Pandora One” paid user, primarily to enable high quality streaming, but also with the intent of getting rid of ads. I don’t regret the decision one bit, especially since Pandora’s new layout was recently rolled out exclusively to Pandora One users before the general public. However, I’m intrigued by Pandora’s advertising model - especially the mobile audio ads that encourage immediate interactivity and a cool user experience. Should there be an option to “turn ads on” for Pandora One users?!

Starbucks seems to be having some success using Pandora to drive this type of mobile program, but don’t seem to be adding in a social components that could give them even more bang for their buck (and tie-in nicely with their Frappuccino Community page):

- Last June, they had an interactive campaign on their browser-based and iPad app that encouraged listeners to “create their own musical taste” by learning about and choosing their favorite Frappuccino flavor. Utilizing a slick UI that didn’t interrupt the listening experience, users could easily play around with Starbucks Frappuccino offerings and potentially discover new music. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a social component to this, but it would have made sense to integrate Facebook/Twitter sharing options to encourage others to take part in the experience.

- Currently, Starbucks is running another summer-themed frap campaign on Pandora’s iPhone app. This time, there is a banner ad that reads “Handcrafted Refreshment Is Waiting.” I’m not sure if there is an audio ad prior to the appearance of the banner, but when users tap the ad, they are brought to an interactive landing page that immediately encourages interaction with the screen:

The mobile experience allows for users to learn more about the summer offerings and then find a Starbucks nearest to their current location. Once again, I don’t think there is a social component to this campaign, but it seems ripe for a geolocation social service tie-in. After finding the nearest Starbucks location, there should be a “check in on Foursquare (or Facebook Places)” button that unlocks a special Frappuccino deal exclusive to Pandora listeners. I’m not sure if this is technically possible through any of the geolocation social services yet, but it should be. Here is my poor attempt at a mockup for such a screen:

And here is an example of the user experience that I envision:

I’m waiting for a doctor’s appointment, listening to Pandora and an audio ad comes on. It tells me about Starbucks’ summer drinks and encourages me to tap the banner ad to “reveal refreshment” and to unlock a special Foursquare check-in reward. This piques my interest, so I play around with the ad, find my nearest Starbucks and make a mental note to keep the window open until I visit the Starbucks (this is a potential user-flow stumbling block unless the initial banner ad tap seamlessly took me from Pandora to mobile safari instead of utilizing an in-line Pandora browser). After my doctor’s appointment, I head over to Starbucks, open my saved page and unlock the exclusive Pandora/Starbucks/Foursquare special. I’m also given the opportunity to send a tweet or Facebook update telling my friends about the deal and encouraging them to “experience handcrafted refreshment” via their mobile browser to unlock the special.

My “tack-on” ideas for adding a social component to these successful digital advertising campaigns by Starbucks aren’t groundbreaking, but I think they’d really close the social engagement loop:

1) Motivate emotion (swipe screen to reveal refreshment)

2) Social call to action (find nearest location and check in on Foursquare)

3) User re-engagement (social recruiting)

4) Visible progress/reward (discount on Frappuccino)
And then it starts over again.

What do you think? Am I off base on any of my analysis of these campaigns? Did Starbucks layer in a social component to the Pandora ad initiative that I missed?

NYT Gadgetwise: Is Google’s Hangouts Its Killer App?

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:59:42 -0400

NYT Gadgetwise: Is Google’s Hangouts Its Killer App?:

This might be the Google+ functionality that really sets it apart from other social networks. Having the ability to watch YouTube videos (and maybe eventually Hulu videos) while virtually hanging out seems like a lot of fun.

The question is, what level of friend do you have to be with someone in order to get on a webcam with them? Will this help to form more meaningful relationships between members of online social “nicheworks” via face to face (albeit virtual) group conversations ? Or will hangouts be reserved for hormone-infused groups tweens and very close family/friends.

Only time will tell, but it is DEFINITELY a feature of Google+ to keep an eye on.

Turntable.FM - A New Way For Musicians/Bands To Connect With Fans? [Talib Kweli Example]

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:12:00 -0400

Buzz about the music discovery and social service Turntable.FM is approaching Chatroulette levels (and without a penis problem, thankfully). Unlike Chatroulette, I see this website sticking around beyond “flavor of the week” status - especially if more musicians and bands follow Talib Kweli’s lead and embrace the service as another way to engage and communicate with their fan base.

The idea of the site is simple enough - it evokes memories of an old school AOL chat room with the added layer of a virtual version of Apple’s iTunes DJ. In other words, there are a bunch of people in a room, up to five can be “DJs” and the other users can vote “lame” or “awesome” on each track the “DJs” play. Nothing about this sounds particularly new or exciting (I remember coming across something very similar in the 15 minutes I spent playing around with “Second Life” back in the day), but it is catching on quickly. My Twitter timeline generally represents the early adopter crowd, but there were too many people buzzing about this new site to dismiss it due to the “Scobleizer effect.”

The typical legality concerns are bound to arise, but I strongly believe that this is a great opportunity for the music industry to continue its evolution by embracing and not stifling the service. I see it mostly as a community building venture, but there are revenue generation possibilities as well.

Wouldn’t it be cool (and increase your level of fandom) if your favorite band or musician “guest DJed” in a Turntable.FM room every once in a while? It’s a way for artists to humanize their brand - a real-time version of the tried and true “what’s on your iPod” interview question. I also envision some promotional tie-ins involving artists selling unreleased b-sides or other rare tracks exclusively for their Turntable.FM users. Even if there isn’t an immediate way to make money, there is a lot of attention to be gained by being a “brand” that adopts early in the tech space these days.

That attention is magnified even more in the wild, wild west that is the music industry. Talib Kweli didn’t do anything GROUNDBREAKING in his Turntable.FM session and he didn’t make any money, but he had tech influencers tweeting [disclaimer: Chris Sacca is one of the lead investors in Turntable.FM]up a storm about it, potentially exposing his music to an entirely new audience. It is smart marketing that takes little effort and it fun for all involved.

If you haven’t checked out Turntable.fm yet, the signup process is painless. Go to the website, connect via Facebook and you’re signed up. The site is still technically in beta, but if you have a Facebook friend who is registered, you can get in. After the jump, you’ll find a couple of more screen grabs from today’s Talib Kweli session.

"Just had a five minute conversation with my boss about how she couldn’t get a QR code to work on her..."

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:48:00 -0400

“Just had a five minute conversation with my boss about how she couldn’t get a QR code to work on her iPhone…Turns out, she actually meant she was trying to find a song on Shazam.”

- Email from a good friend. It’s a crazy world out there.

On Memolane, The Importance Of Digital Archives & The Digital Age Privacy Paradigm

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 22:54:00 -0400

Think about all of the digital content you create every day and share across various social media services. Now think about how often you actually stop and reflect on all of the information about your life that is scattered around the interwebs. You don’t do that very often, do you?

Wouldn’t it be great if you could easily look back at all of those Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, Foursquare check-ins, Last.FM scrobbles and Youtube videos all on one intuitive and visually appealing timeline? Thanks to Memolane, an innovative startup funded by the creators of Skype, it is now possible.

While there are some big time investors throwing money at Memolane and they’re playing up the curation angle of the service, I believe it should be looked at less as a revenue generating venture and more as the main tool for a non-profit organization. A service like this could play a major role in the effort to build viable long-term public archives of personal digital content on the internet. Less people are writing in personal journals, instead depending on social media channels to chronicle their every day lives. With Twitter, humans are sharing their every move in 140 character quips, but after 3,200 tweets, all of that information goes into a Twitter-imposed abyss. Facebook posts are always accessible, but the user experience is designed to focus on the here and now, not to reflect on the past.

As the digital age privacy paradigm becomes more ingrained in the public conscience, tools such as Memolane will become important educational tools. Back in 2010, when the Library of Congress acquired Twitter’s entire archive, LOC’s Matt Raymond wrote “Expect to see an emphasis on the scholarly and research implications of the acquisition. I’m no Ph.D., but it boggles my mind to think what we might be able to learn about ourselves and the world around us from this wealth of data.” Perhaps if teenagers become more aware of how permanent their flippant tweets can be, incidents such as the recent one involving Washington Nationals draftee Zach Houchins will be avoided in the future.

I have really strong feelings about this topic, but there is obviously a fun side to services such as Memolane (and iJourney) The HTML5 interface of Memolane is slick and user friendly, perfect for a nostalgic trip down memory lane or for syndicating your various social media activities on your blog for all to see. There is also a lot of room for improvement. I’d love for them to add options to visualize the experience and make it a scrap book alternative for the digital age - perhaps they can integrate something similar to Intel’s recent Museum of Me digital app. On a more granular level, I’d like to see Memolane introduce a time overlay on the Y-axis, so we can see the time of day for all of our activity.

I have worries about the scaleability of a service like Memolane because of how data-intensive the process of accessing social media activity can be (just ask Twitter). However, product lead and co-founder Nikolaj Hald Nielsen says “The 3200 limit is a relic of Twitter’s past that they have not fixed yet, not an intrinsic scalability issue.” Regardless of future developments, the existence of a startup such as Memolane is an important step in giving users access to the digital archives that we create every single day. For that, we should all be thankful.

An Example Of GREAT Targeted Advertising On Facebook, Courtesy Of Scribd.com

Thu, 12 May 2011 11:32:00 -0400

Late last year, I was bothered by Buick’s awful targeted advertising on Facebook. They wanted me to “like” their brand for a chance to win a trip to New York City, but I already lived in New York City. Awful use of contextual advertising and enough to make me question whether or not marketers understand the true power of Facebook ads.

It only took 6 months, but yesterday afternoon I experienced a shining example of targeted Facebook advertising being used to its full potential. I was innocuously perusing my own profile to check if a link I shared was showing up when I noticed an ad for “Devil In The White City.”

For those who don’t know, “Devil In The White City” is a great murder mystery/historical fiction novel by Erik Larson about Chicago around the time of the World’s Fair in 1893. It is also one of my favorite books ever, and is listed as such on my Facebook profile. The book was released in 2004, so I was surprised to see a Facebook ad for it. Upon closer inspection, it was actually an ad for a BRAND NEW ErikLarson book that had just come out called “In The Garden Of Beasts”

As I said on Twitter at the time:

This is the first time I can remember feeling truly thankful for an ad. I really enjoy Larson’s books, but had no idea there was a new one!

The process of discovering new books is overwhelming to me, so I spend very little time reading book reviews, instead depend on word of mouth from friends and family. Unfortunately, I’m the only nerd in my circle of influence who enjoys historical fiction, so “In The Garden Of Beasts” completely flew under my radar. Luckily, Scribd.com effectively used a portion of their advertising budget* on a timely Facebook ad and I found out about the book the day after it was released. I know how I’ll be spending my weekend.

* Scribd.com seems to be all in on Facebook advertising. Google searches for “Devil In The White City,” “Erik Larson,” and “Erik Larson new book” don’t show any sponsored links similar to the one I experienced on Facebook. While Facebook ads have way more of an effect on me than Google ads EVER did, I’m surprised that Scribd didn’t save a portion of their ad budget to cover Google as well. Perhaps they feel that people Googling those terms are more active in their search of Erik Larson books and are so focused on finding editorial content they won’t even pay attention to Google’s ads. Regardless of the exact strategy, their Facebook ad won me over. Kudos.

My Wife's Painful Search For An iPad Case - With Commentary On User Generated Video Product Review Sites And Peer To Peer Commerce

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 22:17:06 -0500

Over the past couple of days, I’ve been observing a fascinating experience that my wife Heather has been having while seeking out a new case for her new iPad.

First, a little background. Heather is an extremely methodical, process-driven person and doesn’t often make shortsighted decisions. Combine these traits with the vast level of information available on the internet and an efficient shopper is born. Unfortunately, this gift is at times a curse, as she spent a large portion of the weekend trying to find an iPad case that satisfies her needs.

Most consumers desire a sturdy product from a brand or merchant that will stand behind it in the event of malfunction. This is why we all have favorite brands or merchants.

Heather is no different, so her search began with brands such as InCase, Griffin and Belkin - brands that have a good reputation for building mobile device cases. Once Heather defined her needs for an iPad case (something that covered the front of the iPad, not too bulky, material that doesn’t pick up excess dirt), she realized that none of the main players had a product that fit her needs.

The next step was the wild, wild west of video product reviews. Once the most reputable brands were out of the equation, Heather’s next step was to leverage the power of user generated content to actually SEE what was out there.

Sadly, the state of user generated video product review websites is inefficient at best. Major review sites with paid staff (think CNET, Consumer Reports) can’t afford to review every single iPad case, so they don’t capture the “long-tail” of iPad cases. Sites like ExpoTV have attempted to build a website around the product review niche, in hopes of capturing this long tail. Unfortunately, they have geared their product toward casual contributors by offering money instead of cultivating an environment of power users. The end result is a sparsely populated website that doesn’t index well in search engines and seems spammy to the end user. YouTube has a vast database of video reviews and ends up being the best option, but the curation and quality is inconsistent.

Key learning? There is a major opportunity out there for a website that can harness the untapped potential of video product reviewers like those on YouTube. These people are power users who have found art in reviewing products and want to share their gift with the world. Building an entire community around these power users (who are not inspired by promises of money, but by the promise of fellow humans to share their gift) will draw in casual users and lurkers alike. YouTube can even do this by making categories a more prominent aspect of their landing page, and creating a section of the site that is dedicated to product reviews.

But back to Heather. She kept on pulling in leads for her perfect iPad case from various sources, but she continued to be underwhelmed by her choices. Every time she thought she had found a case, she would unearth information that convinced her otherwise. Part of this might have to do with the problem humans experience when facing too many choices (the subject of an entire book by Columbia professor Sheena Inyegar titled “The Art Of Choosing”), but it also speaks to the high expectations of the modern shopper.

With demands as high as Heather’s, the solution might not be better video review sites, but instead a peer-to-peer commerce experience. She is in search of detailed specifications and top notch quality. Websites like Etsy.com can connect her to someone who can produce a case just for her. Just like the user generated content video review sites, the key to sites like Etsy being successful is catering to that hardcore subset of power users that isn’t just there for money. Once credibility is built and there are enough choices, more passive users will join the site in search of the art being created by the power users.

Late on Sunday night, Heather eventually settled on a case by Yoobao, a Chinese brand that she stumbled across on the MacRumors forums:

The brand apparently makes affordable products with exceptional craftsmanship - exactly what Heather was looking for. I’ll be sure to report back to let everyone know if there is a happy ending to this long weekend of iPad case hell.

An Example Of Bad Targeted Advertising On Facebook, Courtesy Of Buick

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 21:54:50 -0400

Ummmmm… I already live in New York City (and Facebook knows this). I don’t need a trip to here. And by the way, what value does Buick get from me “liking” them just to win a free trip? It doesn’t mean I actually like them. It means I’m clicking a button to try to win a free trip. In reality, it is Buick’s way of forcing their social media “outreach” (advertising) into as many news feeds as possible.

Until recently, I mistakenly thought that the individual relevance of Facebook advertising would be a fundamental improvement over Google display ads. But based on this Buick example, I’m concerned that Facebook’s targeting is flawed, and that brands still don’t fully understand the value of social media platforms like Facebook. The idea isn’t to trick random people into “liking” the brand. The value of Facebook (or other social networking sites) is to leverage the power of existing fans of your brand, help them to connect with fellow humans who share their passion, and to cultivate the collective voice of these true brand ambassadors. Buick (and other brands) should be focusing their Facebook outreach on these people, instead of tricking uninterested individuals into clicking a like button just to win a free trip.

At best, Buick will have gained an inactive “fan” that counts toward their social media metrics. At worst, the new “like” will realize they don’t have any interest in Buick and they’ll “unlike” them (if they can find the unlike button buried deep on the brand Facebook page).

I don’t mean to pick on Buick, because A LOT of brands do this on Facebook. This is just a culmination of frustrations with the way Facebook is being used by marketers.