Social media hits IS the headlines Part 2
Bebo bows out?
When Bebo briefly went offline due to a ‘technical cluster’ issue, confusion turned to annoyance and, in some instances, apathy.
The most popular social networking site until 2007, the site was overtaken and effectively displaced by the might of Facebook.
With numerous buyouts and a point of difference issue, it’s no wonder that users and spectators assumed the site outage signalled the beginning of the end for Bebo.
This was compounded by co-founder Michael Birch tweeting: “Am super sad that Bebo has actually gone. Some very fun times with very cool people” only to take back his comments within moments.
It’s difficult to think that a brand would undertake such a risky manoeuvre as a PR stunt as many have concluded. All it could serve to do would be to make users realise they need to safeguard content – ie remove it. Which is exactly what they did.
Other than it’s creator’s nostalgic sadness to see it go, the chief reaction to the rumoured demise of Bebo seems to be mild irritation at the thought of lost photos merging into indifference.
“Bebo: gone but not forgotten… oh wait it’s back? Time to forget it again,” wrote @aidankelly.
Two words spring to mind: uh oh.
The face of money
By far the biggest story on the topic of social media so far this year is Facebook preparing to become a public listed company (PLC).
It’s big news as this means that Facebook has, for the first time ever, been obliged to publicly declare its value. And, for those who like numbers, it’s a big one – hitting somewhere between 75 and 100 billion dollars.
Until now a private company, Facebook has not been obligated to publish its accounts – although documents released by Goldman Sachs last year indicated net profit levels of $355 million from the social media giant in the first nine months of 2010.
If everything goes to plan, the flotation of Facebook will raise circa. $10 billion, will be hailed as one of the biggest share sales ever seen on Wall Street and will make Facebook one of the world’s biggest companies via market capitalisation.
Anyone out there still think that Facebook’s a bit silly…?
But why is Facebook such big business?
Facebook has 800 million users worldwide, 50% of whom log onto the site daily to upload new photos, personal information and preferences.
Over a period of time this equates to users having told Facebook A LOT about themselves. And this data is invaluable to brands.
So when people talk about Facebook generating revenue through advertising (to the tune of $3.8 billion in 2011) it isn’t just to do with the number of users advertisers can reach, but the potential for detailed consumer profiling.
It’s not about selling advertising space. It’s about selling you, the Facebook user and all your quirks, likes and dislikes. And your mates too.
Liquid Graphic, understanding the in’s and out’s of social media, so that you don’t have to. Talk to us.
Social media hits IS the headlines – Part 1
Social media…what began as a platform to share photos, stay in touch with old friends and to organise Saturday night’s social agenda, has merged into mainstream media.
News stories more often feature social media than not. Journalists seem to be increasingly reliant on using Facebook and Twitter to access sources, capture quotes relating to a story and to gather a celebrity perspective on current events.
But as well as being the voice and commentator of the story, social media IS the news too.
The start of 2012 has seen social media dominate the headlines like never before. Here are a few of the stories that have piqued our interest at Liquid Graphic.
Sneaky Snickers tweets
Albeit naïve to think that social media channels are free from commercialisation, Twitter users were up in arms last month at cheeky celebrity product placement tweets.
Rio Ferdinand, Cher Lloyd, Katie Price and Ian Botham all tweeted followers posing with Snickers bars and quoting the strapline from Snickers recent advertising campaign: ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’.
We’re not sure how successful Snickers found the activity, but it did succeed in re-raising debate on the labelling of advertising under existing fair trading laws. And advertisers should beware as the Advertising Standards Authority extended their remit last year to govern marketing communications via social networking sites.
Like us though, you may be less concerned about guerrilla marketing techniques and more concerned about the decidedly dodgy photos that accompanied the tweets. More than a few of Ferdinand’s followers lost respect for him that day…
Regarding compliance, a Snickers spokesperson released the following statement:
“To comply with social media regulations a reveal tweet was used and this went out within an hour and a half of the teaser tweets going live to ensure Twitter users knew they were enjoying promotional tweets.”
So Snickers, cheeky or sneaky? Our view: it’s all way too obvious to need a label, and way too dull to actually give it one. But compliance is king.
Dear 2012…
As we approach mid January, our New Year’s revelries have already blurred into our drunken back-catalogue and our resolutions are receiving their ultimate test in willpower.
That said, before this brief moment of newness and sense of beginning fades altogether, we wanted to take a moment to consider what the year 2012 has in store.
2012 is undoubtedly year of high hopes, for the Olympics and for the economy.
And in our small part of things, let 2012 be the year that:
- Social media becomes an integrated part of brand communications
Gone are the days when brands can choose to disregard social media or to view it as separate to their core marketing strategy.
Having the right logo design and the right look for your website has become a hygiene matter.
No matter how big or small you are, your consumer is talking about you. It’s time to get a voice because, if you don’t talk back, they’ll make friends with your competitor instead.
- Brands are proud to be British
Whether tapping into the spotlight the Olympics will throw onto the UK, continuing with heritage branding inspired by 2011’s Royal Wedding fever or evoking a sense of camaraderie for change as seen within recent protests and London riot clean up missions, 2012 is the year that will see brands celebrate their British heritage.
- We get face to face with consumers again
Social media has many benefits and one major benefit for brands during the recession was that it represented a cost-effective way to get dialogue with consumers in the midst of marketing budgets being slashed.
Events, field marketing and exhibitions were often the first lines to be deleted from budgets as results from these forms of marketing can be less quantifiable in boardroom terms.
The truth however is that one is no substitute for another. Yes all brands should be part of an online dialogue with their consumers via social media. But, face to face marketing is the most effective way for consumers to fully experience what your brand is all about and can be a way of connecting with another core of hard-to-reach consumers.
So, as late January bids welcome to the return of our New Year banished vices, we look forward to the year ahead and the challenges that lie in store.
Whether competing on the athletics track, on the stock market or on the Google rankings, 2012 is a year of high hopes for us all.
Liquid Graphic is here, ready to talk to you about why social media is relevant to your business, how you can refresh your brand image cost-effectively and how you can appear higher within the search engine rankings. Talk to us.
Social media gets all patriotic this weekend
Some questions…
- What do you like or dislike about Britain?
- What makes you happy?
- What can you see from your window and how would you describe your area?
- What do you worry about?
Simple questions that the BBC have put out there to get the nation thinking about our mindset and attitudes and how they reflect a moment in time.
Britain in a Day is a BBC project led by Ridley Scott and directed by Morgan Matthews that aims to create a self-portrait of Britain on a single day – Saturday 12th November – ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.
The BBC is encouraging as many of us as possible to create content ‘capturing the reality of your day’ and upload it to YouTube. The resulting footage will be pieced together to create a film of some of the most ordinary, and extraordinary, moments that are captured this Saturday.
The project is of course inspired by Life in a Day, another Ridley Scott project directed by Kevin Macdonald that used the same format to capture moments across the globe on 24th July 2010.
The first crowd-sourced documentary film, and arguably the first ever social media film, the piece featured a selection of clips from the 80,000 submitted to YouTube.
Director Kevin Macdonald told The Wall Street Journal that throughout the project he wanted to “take the humble YouTube video, … and elevate it into art.”
Watch the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT_UmBHMYzg
Whether you’re feeling in a ‘sharing’ mood this Saturday or not, Britain in a Day is yet another testament to the unavoidable importance of social media: as a means of communicating with peers, connecting and maintaining relevance with your audience, and as a new and emerging art form.
Contact Liquid Graphic for all your online marketing needs and to find out more about engaging your audience via social media.
Social media: the sky’s the limit
British Airways recently launched their Future Pilot Scheme using You Tube as a key component of their awareness campaign.
The Future Pilot Programme is part of a wider pilot recruitment plan at British Airways supporting budding pilots and helping them access funding (circa. £100k of it!) which is then paid back later in their career. The airline has a target to add another 800 new pilots by 2016, and the scheme is a joint venture between the British Airways and the armed forces.
According to British Airways, the You Tube ad explains more about the initiative and offers soundbites from current pilots advising that recruits need “a passion for flying and a passion for our customers.”
Sounds fair. But what does You Tube really add to the equation? And why are more and more brands turning to You Tube as the final piece of their digital strategy puzzle?
There is a wealth of thinking in the field on You Tube as a social media channel and why brands have not been as quick to embrace it as Facebook and Twitter. But the tides are most certainly turning.
At Liquid Graphic, we think You Tube serves as an important element of an online marketing strategy for two reasons:
- It’s the second biggest search engine. Second only to it’s parent company, Google. If a customer’s searching your product and you’re not there, someone else will be.
- It’s the emotional connection. Video has the capacity to draw us in like no other medium. Customers searching for video are almost certainly at the last stage of research before affirmation of purchase – ie, if they want to see a product in action it’s usually because they want to buy it.
Brands are increasingly realising that You Tube can no longer be ignored and many are developing their own dedicated channels. You Tube has a great resource with plenty of do’s and don’t's advice to help brands get off the ground.
But while brands learn to fly the mothership that is You Tube, there’s plenty of turbulence in the sky. You Tube has served as a more true form of social media and citizen journalism over the years and, as such, there are plenty of anti-corporation videos to be found and brands have to be wary of search results that appear alongside their brand name.
The sky is the limit for brands when it comes to You Tube and 2011 is looking set to become the year that take off really happens.
Get in touch with Liquid Graphic to talk about social media and why it’s relevant to your business.
