The New Age Marketing department

Spinning balls, trend trackers and social graphs set up in one room as if NASA was trying to find water on Mars. One small step for Gatorade but potentially one massive leap for Marketing.

In a social media first it seems the Pepsi Co. company has set up a control room that tracks online data, listens to and helps marketers participate in online conversations with customers and monitors trends and social media buzz. From this control room insights can then be gained which mould marketing strategies and impacting on product design / brand positioning. Quite revolutionary I must say.

I think this is a great initiative from their marketing department. Social media is so ingrained in our daily (hourly...) activities that a set up like this puts the Gatorade brand on the front foot to adapt to ever changing consumer needs. Of course such a spend could only be justified by big global brands with big global audiences like Gatorade but it is certainly an initiative that could be taken up by more and more companies as more minutes are spent on more social media platforms as time goes on.

Check out Gatorade's introductory video below.

Are we living in a social media bubble?

This week we received the sad news that Australia's most well known purely social media strategy agency has shut its doors due to, well lets face it - a lack of business. I must admit I write this with an embarressing image of Carrie Bradshaw sitting on her bed by her laptap after just taking off her new Manolo Blahnicks. As I hear my own voice in my head however there is a very real question being asked for all of us social media believers...

"Are we living in a social media bubble?"

Are we, those in the industry, so consumed by our own tweeting, blogging and Facebooking that we think everyone else is and sees the same value of potential social media campaigns as we do? Yes we can all see the stats of Twitter, Facebook and blogger / wordpress increase by the month but then why can't the people who make the marketing budget decisions see the same value as we do? Are we deranged or just ahead of our time?

Not too disimilar to Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda sitting around a table trying to solve the problems of their world (bar the physical conversation and Cosmopolian), an interesting discussion unravelled up on Mumbrella with some of those involved believing that social media is an in-house function with others taking the position of social media needing to be integrated into a fully serviced agency, which is ultimately what has happened with The Population morphing into their sister agency C4.

Ultimately I don't think the Australian market is ready for a stand alone social media agency just yet. We need Australian case studies of successful campaigns before companies in their masses will be completely comfortable with throwing tens of thousands of dollars at a campaign. And unfortunaetly for The Population, at this stage the Australian market hasn't produced enough solid results to qualify the need for a specialist agency.

So are we living in a social media bubble? Perhaps Carrie. But I think the mass take up and continuous use of of web 2.0 via Twitter, Facebook, blogging etc is reason enough to believe the bubble is a legitimate marketing tool. That makes us ahead of our time :)

As I I have discussed in an earlier post it will take time for a social media industry to develop. And for this reason, only time will illustate the need for special social media agencies.

I'm just a small business, how can social media increase sales?"

Can small business increase sales from social media? How? What is the process? If you follow the premise that any business will increase sales if they increase traffic to their store then I would argue the answer is a resounding YES.

The following is a process that a small business needs to follow in order to ensure they build traffic to their stores:

1 – Build a community

As the world of social media now expands to MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr etc businesses need to set up a community across all sites. You’re not going to necessarily catch a fish if you only fish at St Kilda pier but if you make sure you go to Sandringham pier one week end and then go out on a boat another week end you’re increasing your chances of success. So step one, make sure you have a presence across all sites and incentivize members to join by promoting it on your website and offline.

2 – Keep users engaged

Through these communities promote content to keep your users engaged. Make sure this content is consistent with your brand image. Ie If you sell coffee there is no point in putting a funny video up about Barack Obama. Unless he is spilling coffee all over Michelle perhaps?

3 – Create offers to get users in store

Right so your consumers know who you are. Tick. They get a funny video about your brand frequently. Check. So they like you. Bloody fantastic. But now you just have to create an offer that will drive traffic. This is the most important step and this just comes down to simple ideas... "The third person to come in on Monday and say “I love your coffee” gets it for free. Or even is it’s a simple awareness campaign,” come in today for 15% off shorts and T-shirts.” As long as the offer is worthy of getting your community in store the strategy will work.

4 – Keep the conversation going

Don’t forget about your customers once they leave. Evaluation is key as you have to know how you can do things better to create more sales in the future. Hey, if you tweet about us and tell us how your coffee was or how the sales people treated you in store you can get further discounts when you’re in store next. Brand advocates are the people who will keep spreading the important word so make sure they are out there and happy!

Happy socializing!

Are you a 'follower', 'a friend' ..or neither?

Why do we have friends or followers in the online world? If someone called me my friend and I didn’t even know what they looked like I’d be very worried and if someone started following me and I didn’t know what they looked like I’d be even more concerned! But in today’s online world this is perfectly normal..

I am quite ashamed to admit that I have over 600 friends on Facebook, 100 friends on MySpace and over 100 followers on Twitter. And out of all these contacts I’d say I probably only see or speak to about 2% on a monthly basis... yet in today's world this is not abnormal and for today's generation quite standard. But how does today's marketer take advantage of this?

For marketers and businesses social media friends and followers has created an entirely new chapter in their history. The availability of these ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ means that brands today can reach out to more people, more efficiently and in more cost effectively way. In addition, these friends also form a free audience sample which can be used for a very cheap research project!

A genuine goldmine yes they are but marketing through social media has to follow some very important guidelines:

1 - Don't be too aggressive

Marketers need to remember that these networks are very personal for many users and as a result campaigns cannot shadow their consumers’ every move. Marketers need to give them space and let consumers find them. Build an offer and if it’s good enough, “they will come.” One can do a lot of damage to their brand if they are too aggressive. As they say it can take a many years to build a reputation, and one minute to ruin it.

2 - Give so that they may grow

People naturally need a reason to give up their time. As a result marketers need to provide an incentive for returning friendship. "Come check out our sale", "mention today's key word and get a further 10% off" or "sign up for our newsletter and get a free sample of our product." The day a brand's community starts giving something back to their friends and followers is the same day the same friends and followers create a greater affinity with your brand and hopefully when you will start seeing increases in your sales.

3 - Use your social media for feedback about your brand / product

A an open forum where cosumers can give you feedback about product. Don't you have to pay big $$$ for that? Not in this day and age! Social media tools give brands the opportunity to ask questions and get answers that only research companies have been able to retrieve for you in the past. So why not use social media just for that reason? One will need to tie it in with a promotion eg 20% off for all those tell us their most favourite and least favourite flavour. But in the social world everyone love giving an opinion so all you have to do is ask!

If anyone else has any tips for best using a friendship base let me know!