Braatzy's Thoughts

21 Jan 2010

Social Media ROI and the net generation

Social Media offers an opportunity to get customers involved when they want to on their own terms – for a significant group this means engaging with them using social media tools where they spend hours engaging with others online every day.

A Forrester Research report shows four out of five online Canadians use social media and almost 57 per cent participate in social networks at least once a month, making them the most active social networkers of any market regularly surveyed by Forrester.

You can’t ignore something that this many Canadians are using

Indeed the groups that are already using social media most heavily are the young people that many companies struggle to engage effectively. Social media is a crucial tool for connecting with students and the net generation.

Many companies are starting to see the results that social media is providing:

How do you plan on incorporating social media into your communications strategy?

17 Jan 2010

Entertainment, Value and Relevance - viral marketing and the net generation

via danzarrella.com

Dan Zarrella's recent blog post resonated with me. I always discuss the importance of entertainment, value and relevance in viral marketing because many companies and marketers rush to put together viral campaigns that are shocking, evoke emotion, reaching millions of people without considering their target market, and the product/messages they are trying to sell. A viral campaign that is entertaining with no relation to the brand or audience is not going to have the intended effect.

Relevance also increases the likelihood of a msg going viral. Founding netgen was a direct result of dissecting viral marketing and social media success, realizing the power that this tactic and medium harness.

Social media provides us with the tools to pool information with our friends and others who are interested in similar things (relevance). We always take great pleasure in being the ones who find the video, picture or website that will bring value and entertainment to our friends and followers.

The net generation is very receptive to this form of marketing due to the credibility of the sender; someone they trust, follow and friend. The targeted audience is much more likely to pay attention to the message, pass it on and have a more positive view of your brand.

Overall, viral marketing is one of the best tactics to connect with the net generation, but companies and marketers must always consider how they are offering entertainment, value and relevance to their intended target.

PS - Dan Zarella is a huge Zombie fan. This is how he can show the importance of combined relevance in marketing messages that will resonate with him.

My chart would have cycling replace zombies...

Braatzy

12 Jan 2010

What you can learn from the most tweeted blog posts ever (via @ViperChill)

10 high-quality blogs and their top two most tweeted posts and an analyses of what makes them popular. This should help give you tons of article ideas and allow you to see the type of content that Twitter users respond to.

http://www.viperchill.com/most-tweeted-posts/#

8 Jan 2010

Anorexic Art Creating a Buzz

This awareness campaign was put together for the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Eating Disorders (ANAD). The shock and surprise of what this ad depicts helped build awareness resulting in a 16% traffic increase to the ANAD site, "remarkably high single donations" and some WOM traction.

But as culture-buzz.com puts it: Frankly, the work is great for showing people with "normal eating behaviours" how distorted perceptions of beauty have become. But those truly in danger — anorexics and bulimics — are perhaps less well-served by the shock factor.

I agree that an ad won't directly impact those going through this disorder, but indirectly campaigns like this can have a great effect. Family and support from loved ones, donations, understanding from the general public will go far.

I write about this subject because I have had loved ones effected. I saw first hand how it effects family and how individuals are effected. It is a serious disorder and I think this campaign did a great job of raising awareness for the general public so we can have better understanding and support those who need us.

I think a stronger online push and an attempt to connect with a younger audience would have proved to be very effective. The internet generation is a focused and dedicated generation who need to be educated on issues such as this. The shock and emotions that resonate with this campaign would help are generation think long and hard about the people we know that need help. We are a generation that will help others; all we need is a little awareness and motivation to do so.

More awareness to the general public means more support for those who need it. RT and share this so that we can continue to make raise awareness.

7 Jan 2010

First we had the VW Suicide video and now we have Audi's viral take

This video offers surprise, humour and it pushes the limits. Is it acceptable? You be the judge.

My Take:
I would classify this as quality viral marketing. It is relevant to the message Audi wishes to portray and it connects with audience emotions. I personally love it, but maybe it is because I have never been directly effected by suicide.

I know that suicide is a serious issue with youth today. Those who have been effected will have a strong view and opinion against any brand that uses it as a joke to sell more products.

Viral marketing is about connecting with your target market and not worrying about the opinion of everyone else. If you offend a few but deeply connect with those likely to buy, than you can "say" it was successful. But youth are the future. We need to be considered in every ad and communication piece, because once we have formed an opinion, it is a lot harder to change it...

Reference: http://www.adverblog.com/archives/004152.htm

7 Jan 2010

Top 10 Viral Videos - December 2009 - MarketingVOX

Internet videos created to raise awareness of breast cancer and global warming, and to promote video games, sports drinks and lingerie are high on the list of the top-10 viral and up-and-coming-viral campaigns selected by video-content distributor Goviral as the most interesting and innovative in December 2009.

The latest crop of videos on the list continues to demonstrate online video's potential to engage a wide range of audiences, writes MarketingCharts. Though they appear to be more focused on environmental and health-related causes than in the past, they continue to employ a variety of approaches to grab and hold viewers’ attention - including a the shocking display of polar bears falling from the sky, dancing hospital employees wearing pink gloves, a rapping "sexy pilgrim" at the first US Thanksgiving, and the appearance of skateboarding dogs and human cannonballs.

As was also case with the top viral videos in November 2009, the videos, which span the globe, continue to highlight the international nature and potential of viral video and illustrate how various companies are using these vehicles to build global brand and issue awareness that attempts to span cultures and ethnicities.

The top 10 picks for December, with links to view on YouTube:

Activision - Skateboard Dog, agency: Droga 5; Sharethrough

National Geographic - Deadly Predator

New Zealand Book Council - Going West, agency: Colenso BBDO

Victoria's Secret – One Gift

Plane Stupid - Polar Bears

Intel - Cannonbells, agency: MRM London

Breast Cancer Awareness - Pink Glove Dance

Orbit - Clean it up, agency: Evolution Bureau; Sharethrough

Epson - Extreme Gamer, agency: twentysix

Muscle Milk - Sexy Pilgrim, agency: Pereira & O’Dell, Sharethrough

About the rankings: Goviral issues a monthly top-10 list of viral video rankings on its site, including additional commentary about the videos, their approaches and why the firm thinks they are viral or likely to become viral in the future.

via marketingvox.com

I obviously love Pink Glove Dance because of my focus on the fight against cancer

7 Jan 2010

What is it about me that says leprechaun?

2 Jan 2010

2009 year in review on social media (cartoon)

1 Jan 2010

Magazines doing whatever they can for extra revenue

I just received my copy of Men's Fitness. It came with two covers. Front cover is an ad and the second is the regular cover. Personally I think this takes away from the quality of the magazine and I am not really impressed with MF. The internet generation will see this as cheap and pull back at this attempt to stay afloat. Adapt to technology, don't sell your soul for advertising revenue. What are your thoughts?