Retail goes social
Perhaps it’s the inspiration of Zappos and its pioneering use of Twitter. Maybe it’s the success of Best Buy, whose Twelpforce has turned employees into an online service and support staff. But retailers everywhere are jumping on the social train. And well they should.
Today shopping happens anywhere: offline, online, on the go. And shoppers can connect and share every step of the way. Mobile utilities make it possible to find a product in a store and quickly order it for less somewhere else. Services like Groupon deliver daily and or regional discounts providing the crowd responds. Platforms such as Placecast offer all of us a chance to opt-in to offers and messages from our favorite retailers entirely on our own terms. And multi-feature apps such as Springpad (note they’re a client and I serve on the board) will soon actually hunt down the best prices for products you’ve saved to your wish list.
In fact it’s only a matter of time before consumers can issue their own RFI for a given product type or even a specific brand.
So what are retailers doing besides the obvious presence on Twitter and Facebook? Lots of stuff. In the last couple of months I’ve come across the following. My guess is it’s just the beginning.
Uniqlo sets the bar
If non-stop experimentation and creativity is your criteria, check out Uniqlo. Their constant fashion innovation extends into social media. For example, UTweet takes all your Twitter content and gives it a cool new look. They’ve got something new every month or so and all of it is designed to engage with customers, connect them to each other and inspire them to pass it around. This is a brand that’s being social rather than doing social.
JC Penny hires haulers
Among the many phenomena brought to us by YouTube are haul videos. Shoppers sharing their most recent purchases. Don’t ask me why, but some of these young women have thousands of followers and hundreds of thousands of views. (Amazing what we are interested in.) JC Penny figured, “Why not have them haul home stuff from its stores?” Give some of the popular ones a couple of gift cards and turn those haulers into customers and advocates all in one fell swoop. No doubt we’ll see more retailers trying to leverage the influence of the individual.
Kohl’s crowdsources customer stories
Again, you may ask yourself why, but it appears we want to share everything and even pay attention to what others are sharing. Kohl’s figured this out and created a simple site where customers could hold up receipts, sharing what they bought and more importantly how much they saved. Granted $100 prizes helped generate participation, but shoppers showed up and shared as much because they wanted recognition and inclusion as they did the money. In a matter of weeks Kohl’s got thousands of customers to share their purchases and brag about their savings. Note: Kohl’s worked with This Moment, whose platform lets them create a unified brand experience across all the social networks, from YouTube to Facebook to Kohl’s own site.
Diesel introduces social dressing rooms
This is pretty cool. In Spain, Diesel created the Diesel Cam, essentially connecting mirrors right outside the dressing rooms directly to Facebook. When you try on an outfit you can log in, upload a photo of yourself in your new jeans, and solicit immediate feedback and “likes” from your friends. We all want the opinion of people we trust and who better to watch our backside than our friends? Social shopping, whether it’s via our iPhone and a quick TwitPic or full-blown installations like Diesel’s, is definitely here.
K-Mart post gamers’ online reviews in-store
This one couldn’t be simpler. K-Mart invites its video game customers to review games online and possibly have them appear in-store as POP right on the shelf where the game is sold. You get your review and your name front and center for other shoppers to see. Ups your gamer cred and makes you feel part of the franchise. We all know it’s easy to post comments online, but to have them displayed as a miniature billboard? Much cooler.
Retailers may still be addicted to FSI’s and the offline tactics they’ve always depended on, but if I were in the Sunday circular business, I’d be even more worried than I already am.
If you’ve seen other cool retailer uses of social media, please share. I’m taking up a collection. Thanks for reading.
It’s SxSW panel submission time
I just got my SxSWi panel submission in under the wire. Was on vacation so totally forgot. Won’t have any idea whether it has a chance or not until September. But here it is. If you read stuff here regularly, you won’t be too surprised. Following the SxSW submission guidelines there’s the title (limited to eight words; agree mine still needs work); description (1500 characters max, though I’ve fattened it up a little bit for this blog post; who it’s intended for; the five questions it will answer; and why I’m qualified to participate (that was the really hard part.)
Title:
New Models Prove That Ad Agencies Will Survive
The title can’t be more than eight words — Rumors of our death are greatly exaggerated was an alternative — but they want something more specific, hence the reference to “new models.”
Description:
Social media enthusiasts, inbound marketers and digital shops have all declared that the advertising agency as we know it is dead. But is it really? The old agency model may have lost its relevance, but there is a new crop of “agencies” springing up all around us.
Still in their infancy, crowdsourcing agencies are succeeding at sourcing ideas from both the public and free agents.
Digital production companies that combine technology and production now offer strategy and branding in attempt to displace agencies of record.
Social savvy integrated agencies that boast innovation “labs” are experimenting with everything from the creation of their own products to the development of digital eco-systems rather than ad campaigns.
The implications of these new models are significant:
They create new opportunities for brands and marketers as they learn to engage rather than “broadcast.”
They force traditional agencies to adapt more quickly if they are to survive.
They call for a new set of skills and expertise from those who want to work and prosper in the industry.
This panel, comprised of leaders who represent each of the models, along with a leading CMO from a major marketer, will explore the following:
–Why rapidly changing consumer behavior (from spectator to creator, from reader to publisher) demands constant reinvention on the part of agencies
–Creating a culture that embraces change
–Criteria that brands and marketers should use to evaluate the new models
–The skills employees will need in the future if they are to prosper and succeed.
Who it’s intended for:
Ad agency executives, CMOs, marketing executives, ad industry employees will all benefit from this discussion. They’ll come away with ideas, examples of what doesn’t work, and new ways to think about the business they dedicate so much of their life to.
Questions this panel will answer:
- What does the next generation ad agency look like?
- Do I need one agency or multiple specialty shops?
- How is consumer behavior and technology affecting advertising effectiveness?
- What kind of skills will be most valuable to the industry in the future?
- What doesn’t work and how can I avoid making mistakes others have made?
What qualifies me:
Needless to say I wrote something that makes me sound impressive. After all, I am in advertising.
So, what do you think? Any good? Would you attend?
Experiments, community, social media and the3six5 project
The3six5 project: crowdsourcing, community and content distribution
Perhaps the most interesting thing about social media isn’t what brands are doing in the new space but what individuals and small teams are creating. I’ve written here before about some of my favorites: Erik Proulx’s ability to make Lemonade the movie; Sheena Matheiken’s clever Uniform Project that raised over $100,000 for the Akanksha Foundation; Michelle Ryan Lauto’s Facebook event, responsible for thousands of New Jersey students boycotting school in protest of tax cuts.
Today I participated in another project that’s pretty cool. Len Kendall’s and Daniel Honigman’s the3six5. The simple Posterous blog recruited 365 different people around the world to each write about a single day. The3six5 is a lesson in everything from crowdsourcing to generating free content, to harnessing the collective reach of a community.
It also offers the perfect formula for brands and marketers to follow.
It takes advantage of a simple, easy to use platform
No one built a website. Instead 3six5 uses the increasingly popular Posterous. The free platform comes with its own built-in community and offers an embeddable tab on Facebook. The old way of thinking was to create something you have to build. The new way of thinking is to build something from stuff that’s already created.
It invites participation
There will always be downright remarkable content toward which we all gravitate. But no one is content just to watch anymore. More and more everyone wants to join in and create. People will give more of their time, effort and ideas than you might imagine if they feel as if they’re contributing to something bigger and worthwhile.
It markets itself
Do the math. If 365 people contribute, and they each have a few thousand followers on Twitter, each of whom has hundreds more, well, you get the picture. It doesn’t take very long for those numbers to grow. In fact after just six months the3six5 has over a million views.
Ironically, my the3six5 post was about old fashioned community, the kind that doesn’t need social media. But if you’re a brand, a marketer, a small company or just one person who wants to make something happen, this is clearly the neighborhood to live in.
What do you think? I’d really appreciate it if you shared as many one person initiated projects that you can think of. Let’s start a collection in the comments below.
Boston’s FutureM: Will it be the next big event?
There are an awful lot of great digital and social gatherings. SxSWi. PSFK. Internet Week. But I’m pretty excited that this year Boston is about to try something new with the launch of FutureM.
Thanks to the inspiration of a bunch of really smart people including folks like Brian Halligan, David Meerman Scott, and the leadership of MITX (one of the country’s premiere Internet business and marketing associations), Boston will host an event that has the potential to define “what’s new and what’s next” as FutureM gathers leading thinkers in marketing, media and technology for five days in October.
There will be keynotes, panels, workshops, tweet-ups and, of course, parties. Plans are still in the early stages but what’s pretty cool is the collaboration and excitement already being generated.
Chris Brogan’s Inbound Marketing Summit at Gillette Stadium is part of the event. Hubspot’s user conference takes place the same week. MIT’s Technology Review will showcase its future view of media. And a lot of other people, including Mike Volpe are working on ideas, panels and presentations as you read this.
I’m thrilled to be a small part of it. I just started collaborating with the super smart Mike Troiano on a panel about change, transformation, and how to specifically overcome obstacles in order to get more digital and social. We’re hoping to avoid the tired old conversation of what’s not working and put some real specific recommendations on the table for both agencies and brands.
Kiki Mills, the executive director of MITX, has asked me to organize a TNGG (nextgreatgeneration.com) session where we get some really bright, social savvy Gen Y marketers to talk about how companies will have to engage with their generation in the future and how they predict marketing tactics and programs will evolve to align with their behavior.
It would be great to bring in people like Michelle Lauto to get a first hand POV about how this generation looks at media as its own tool for connection and change.
And finally, I’m hoping to moderate, or at least help recruit, a panel of the most forward thinking brands around. What makes them different? How do they get management sign off on ambitious and untested ideas? Do they use a different set of metrics and evaluation criteria? Are their lawyers more open-minded?
It’s still too early to share specifics. And suffice it to say I’m both excited and anxious about it being great. But as I’ve learned from hanging with the digital and social crowd, this community works together. It’s collaborative. And it helps each other experiment, learn and ultimately succeed. It’s why I’ve volunteered to help.
So join us. Plan to attend. Submit events. Comment on this post. Leave suggestions for who and what you’d like to see and hear. And if you have ideas for any of the above panels, please let me know.
Social media, Facebook, loyalty and the value of a fan
Where does brand loyalty come from? A social media platform? Or a brand's behavior?
Once again I enjoyed participating on an episode of The Beancast last night with some really smart people that included Mitch Joel, John Wall, Ian Schafer and, of course, Bob Knorpp.
We discussed the week’s marketing stories: everything from the plight of independent BP service stations to the likely winners at Cannes. But the topic that I found the most interesting was the question of loyalty. How do we measure it? Can we assign a real dollar value to a Facebook fan? Are the recent findings from Syncapse and Vitrue dependable.
In the case of Syncapse this social media strategy company suggests that a Facebook fan is worth $136.00. The number comes from determining a typical fan’s behavior. Syncapse concluded he’s likely to spend $72.00 a year more on a brand than a non-fan; is 28 more likely to continue using that brand; has a high propensity to recommend products to friends and family; and has a real affinity to the brand he “likes.”
But the real question that no one seems to answer is this: If there were no Facebook or equivalent social network, would that “fan’s” behavior be any different? Does he fan/like a brand on Facebook because he’s already loyal? Or does becoming a fan somehow induce that loyalty?
I’m willing to bet it’s the former. We are loyal to a brand because of its products, service, quality and consistency; we then reflect that loyalty by fanning a brand, not vice versa.
This has real implications for marketers. Research like the above results in more of the idiocy we have seen in the last year or two: brands that have to be on Facebook; success that’s measured in terms of how many “fans” or “likes” that brand acquires; programs that are designed to drive up the numbers.
Granted Vitrue’s approach and valuation are quite different. Their number is less than $4.00 per fan, but they’re actually measuring impressions.
To me, both of these metrics represent a classic case of applying old media thinking to a new media environment. They measure what exists after the fact — customer value and impressions — they don’t tell us whether or how we can actually increase loyalty.
A program that strives to pile up fans will at best simply identify people who are already loyal. At worst, it will convince someone to click a button because it’s effortless, but potentially also meaningless.
The only thing we should be measuring is whether or not we can create content, utility, service and value in the social media space that induces prospects to become customers and customers to become repeat customers, perhaps even willing to pay a premium. Accomplishing that calls for ideas, creativity and experimentation, not another quantitative study.
Smart brands measure (and, for that matter, predict) everything. But before they put their money behind reaching and collecting fans, they invest in behaviors to prove they’re worthy of a customer’s loyalty.
What’s your brand doing to earn loyalty?
