Harmonic Aftershock

“The Social Network” Movie: Built in WOM

Does Sony Pictures have it made with October’s release of “The Social Network?" From a marketing perspective, it would seem so:

[Social networks promoting "The Social Network."]
Not only has Facebook taken the world by storm but by nature of the motion picture’s content, it’s naturally spreading around through word-of-mouth (WOM) -- Social networks promoting “The Social Network”.

[No need to “earn media.”]
In fact, a quick Twitter search shows that even after 2 days from the first trailer release, there are still several tweets per minute about it. And since the some of the top influencers within the social web cover social media, there isn’t a need for “influencer outreach” programs since they’ll naturally help promote the movie.

[Will 500,000,000 people go see the movie?]
But the question still remains, will the movie appeal to the general masses outside of those who spend all their time within “the social media bubble?”  It certainly doesn’t hurt to have a big name director (Aaron Sorkin) and Actors (i.e. Justin Timberlake).  And since Facebook has affected nearly 500,000,000 people, it very much is a part of pop culture.

Top 5 Social Media Marketing Mistakes

With YouTube now seeing 2 billion video views per day, Twitter producing 2 billion tweets per month, Facebook users spending over 500 billion minutes per month, and Foursquare adding 15,000 new users per day, there’s no doubt that Social Media is here to stay. And brands have embraced it as an important part of their overall marketing mix.

But brands must be careful when engaging within the social web to avoid what seem like common sense mistakes (yet they continue to still be made). I wrote an article for Business Week that describes 5 social media marketing mistakes:

1. Not (or Barely) Monitoring
2. "Down-sourcing" to Interns or Junior Staff
3. Putting perfect before fast
4. Faking It
5. Having an "Off" Switch

Read the full article on businessweek.com and let me know what would be in your top 5 that aren’t on this list.

[Read the full article]

The Social Media 180 #mashablesummit

“I was a social media skeptic turned evangelist” seemed to be a core theme at yesterday’s Mashable Media Summit. From Len Berman and Edward Norton to Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Josh Charles, the day long event in NYC showcased individuals from across every possible industry vertical who have been positively affected because they embraced social media.

Here are soundbites from just a few of my favorites:

Ricky Van Veen, College Humor

• Watching Web Video isn't the same as watching TV
• Companies get swept up in viral video fever a.k.a. “faith-based marketing”
• "Viral is spectacle" if you can make something that cool, people will pass it on
• Leverage power-users who have a built up subscriber base (team up with them)
• The "hook" should come within the first 20 seconds
• [making it onto] TV is a stamp of approval

 Len Berman @LenBermanSports

• Realized "You're not just a guy on air, you've got a brand"
• Where are young people turning to get their news? "I don't turn anywhere, the news comes to me"
• There’s faster way for me to give the news & info than on Twitter
• Convinced that last book made it to NYT best seller because of social media (3 previous books did not)
• "Any idiot can write anything they want and put it on the internet -where is the accuracy police?"
• "I basically reinvented myself [because of social media] -there's more than just reading sports scores at a teleprompter."

Dennis Crowley, Foursquare

• Closing in on 1.6 million users
• “It’s nice to have this ambient awareness of what your friends are doing"
• "The people that get most concerned about privacy are the ones who haven't used the app"
• "The product is changing so quickly when we sit down a year from now we will be talking about completely different things”
• Re: branded apps: “Why build your own checkin system when you can build off the foursquare API?”
• Foursquare is holding on to badges tightly because if there are too many then they lose their value
• How do you combat badge fatigue? Make then worth something in the real world.
• "I like software that challenges you to do something and then rewards you for when you do it."

An interesting interchange that took place was during  the “keynote conversation” with Mashable’s Pete Cashmore and CNN’s KC Estenson. KC mentioned, “The reason we don't yet have an iPad app is that we really like to build a great product and if we can't put something into marketing that we're really proud of, then we'll wait.” Pete’s perspective was the opposite, “We see an advantage of getting in early and being one of the only ones in there so we like to get on as many platforms as possible and as early as possible.” Who is right?

As I walked out of the Times Center, I was heartened by the fact that everyone who spoke ultimately were passionate about connecting with and nurturing their customers and constituents. Social media is simply a mechanism that greatly facilitates this. Brian Simpson of the Roger Smith Hotel said it best, "I'll take [the criticism of] sucking at social media as long as we are really good at the people business."

I work for Apple’s Marketing Team…

…or at least it feels that way. You see, apparently owning an iPad comes with it an unpaid part-time job doing word-of-mouth marketing (WOM) for the product.

I pretty much carry my iPad around with me most of the time:  I read (and Tweet) on the subway into work, I respond to emails in-between sets at the gym, and I check-in to wherever I go on Foursquare.  Apple has done such a good job of making the product so coveted yet scarce that when people see one, they don’t hesitate to ask questions. It usually goes like this:

“Wow is that an iPad?”
“Ya, it is.”
“Do you like it?”
“I love it – it hasn’t left my side since I got it.”
“What do you like most about it?”
“I can get instant access to pretty much any content I want, easily.”
“I’ve been thinking about getting one.”

[Word-of-mouth is the tipping point.]
And it’s that last statement that’s the kicker. What Apple has done by inherently having me do their marketing for them, is that that I become the tipping point for those under consideration. Not only do “prospects” see the product and a very happy “customer” but they also get a candid and trustworthy validation for them to go ahead and buy it.

The media hype has and will certainly put people into the consideration set but it’s word-of-mouth and actually seeing/holding the (amazingly designed) product that works just as hard (if not harder) as part of Apple’s product marketing and sales. And they’re not paying me a dime – for those obsessed with ROI, calculate that.

Fellow iPad owners, you know exactly what I’m talking about. How many times have people come up to you when using your iPad and eagerly asked questions about it?