Social Media

Marketers take notice: Foursquare is in it to win it.

And by win it, I mean it appears as if they’ve decided that it’s finally time to earn some revenue. You know… something that all companies, social networking startups included, eventually have to get around to (a friendly reminder to the aspiring Pinterest and Quora copycats of the world).

Bravo Foursquare. It’s about time.
I always knew you’d find a way.

Earlier this week news broke that the company is currently knee deep in the process of preparing a redesigned version of its popular app, to be released sometime in July, that will include personalized coupons. These coupons, along with other upcoming features, are designed as a means to foster loyalty between customers and venues, which in turn translates to repeat visits and increased revenue for brick and mortar business owners. It’s the same Foursquare that users have come to know and love (check-ins, mayorships, and badges are still in play), with a new Groupon-like spin added on.

Although coupons may be new territory for Foursquare, specials have been around in one form or another for years. Merchants have always had the opportunity to offer incentives and discounts, so long as a person was willing to show up and check in to redeem the special and provided that the business was officially registered with Foursquare. In the near future though, coupons are going to be given preferential placement within the Foursquare app, perhaps as part of a larger effort to lure those who are out and about to visit a new venue for the first time.

It’s still up in the air as to how many of Foursquare’s 750,000 registered merchants will actually pay for promoted coupon specials and what the cost or percentage per transaction will end up being to do so, but nonetheless having a coupon arrangement in place still works out as an enticing win-win-win value prop for venue, Foursquare, and consumer. Business owners, especially those in high traffic metropolitan areas, have little to lose by incentivizing customers to check in. The data that comes along with being a verified merchant, such as frequency of check in and a better picture of who the best customers are, has high value on its own – regardless of how check ins might help the bottom line.

This news is the second revenue positive announcement of the month, considering that Foursquare is also now letting businesses sign up for a merchant account with instant verification for a onetime $10 fee.

Klout, the self-proclaimed creators of the standard of influence on the web and one to never balk at the threat of controversy – often drowning in negative press, released branded pages (aka Brand Squads) into beta this past week. Not too much unlike a watered down version of Facebook Pages, Brand Squads are meant to serve as a central hub for brands and their fans. Unlike Facebook though, Klout’s branded pages are heavily focused on earning and keeping fan interest by tying it back to influence and rewards. Same Klout game. Same Klout story.

Influence pays

For the launch of Brand Squads, Klout opted to give Red Bull first dibs. If you’ve kept tabs on Red Bull and their branding strategy, heavily slanted towards millennials with consistent out of the box marketing campaigns, the Klout partnership shouldn’t come as a surprise. And while there’s nothing captivating about the Red Bull page per say, at least not to the extent that would warrant repeated visits, if you’re a diehard fan it could be worth checking back on every now and then.

No, what really makes this operation get off the ground, and my hunch why Klout has taken this direction, is because of the competitive contest aspect to it. Klout is giving brands a platform to reward their loudest and proudest fans by hooking them up with free schwag. For Red Bull there’s currently an offering waiting in the wings that will adorn the top 100 influencers with branded apparel and drinks, while the top 10 influencers receive a complimentary trip to one of the company’s annual live events.

More harm than good?

If I want to win a trip to the X Games, all I have to do is jump on the Red Bull / Klout bandwagon by using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+ to talk about Red Bull around the clock in hopes of “influencing” others and thus increasing my score. Although my score currently sits at a measly 16 (apparently I’m not influential anymore – I was once a solid 72), getting up to the 60 or 70 range isn’t too difficult with a little bit of thinking and effort. Thus, I present a dilemma…

Are fans really connected to the brand, or are they just interested in winning free stuff? If Klout is easy to game, and apparently it is, what’s to stop faux influencers from hijacking the contests? Klout doesn’t necessarily measure fan appreciation, but rather the scope of how often I can make others respond to my social media activity. If I’m already somewhat influential or some variant of a only famous on the internet type of celebrity, am I really a true Red Bull fan, or am I just a guy who wants to score some prizes?

Bad news for us, good news for brands

The real winner here isn’t you or me, or Klout, or the influencers, but rather Red Bull and all the brands that get a chance to jump on this while it’s still quiet. If this work like it should, Red Bull’s going to have potentially thousands of people touting their praises online in hopes of receiving a hook up. Ultimately for Red Bull the investment is rather minimal and the payoff is massive.

Brand Squads may end up as a force to be reckoned with, but right now it looks like another Klout PR firestorm waiting to happen. Color me skeptical on this one.

When Facebook released Timeline for Pages last month, page owners were provided with a little over 30 day long grace period to make the switch. While a large number of brands have yet to make the transition, a handful of Seattle based companies are already using Timeline to its full potential. If you’re a page owner and have yet to upgrade your page, here are 10 examples to draw inspiration from:

Zillow

Perhaps unlike another company, Seattle based Zillow has become synonymous with all things real estate. For their new Facebook Timeline Zillow uses the giant space at the top of their profile to give visitors a strong impression of what they do best.

Contour 

Contour, famous for their HD cameras, keeps it simple by providing a snapshot (literally) of their product in action.

Molly Moons Ice Cream

With the introduction of Timeline, Molly Moons, aka the best ice cream spot in the city, can now provide their address, prices, phone number, and hours conveniently at the top of their page.

Seattle Works

Seattle Works, a nonprofit, uses their banner image to promote one of their flagship events.

PEMCO

PEMCO uses Facebook to tie in the current theme of their TV, radio, and billboard ads for a consistent branding message.

Allrecepies.com

Allrecepies.com mixes up their status updates with a variety of images, news, and articles to keep fans engaged.

Microsoft

Unlike before, page owners now have more space to showoff large images. Shown here, Microsoft uses the space to promote a new Windows Phone.

Sub Pop Records

One of the more interesting features of Timeline is the ability for brands to post historic status updates. Sub Pop uses Timeline to provide a short of history of how the company got started.

zulily

Brands with a dedicated fan base, like in the case of zulily, a daily deal site for moms, can use Facebook to gather feedback and communicate directly with fans.

Starbucks

Page owners can now selectively pin a single status update to the upper left corner of their page. Starbucks uses the space to showoff one of their products.

After less than a month the use cases thus far with Timeline continue to look promising. One can only expect to see a wider level of adoption over the next several weeks.

Are you ready to hire an online community manager, but not sure if now is the best time? If you’re facing this problem, don’t worry, because you’re certainly not alone. After having conversations with a number of growing companies about this topic, I commend those who think about it thoroughly and address the question head on sooner rather than later. It’s much easier to make adjustments before making the hire, as opposed to having to reset expectations after a community manager has already been on the job.

First, what exactly does a community manager do?

Considering that community management is still a new and fast growing career field, there’s still a lot of debate about what a community manager actually does and doesn’t do. Before you think about making a hire, it’s important to establish what the community manager role means to your organization.

Some starter questions:

1. Does the CM report to marketing, PR, customer service, or elsewhere?

Is the community manager going to be responsible for handling customer emails, writing blog posts, managing an online forum, organizing webinars and offline events, and/or a wide combination of other responsibilities? One of the biggest mistakes one can make when bringing on a community manager, especially for the first time, is to throw them into the trenches and hope everything sorts itself out in time. Save yourself the future headache and answer this question beforehand.

2. What quantitative and qualitative improvements does the CM bring to the table?

It seems like common sense, but don’t hire a community manager without first putting down in writing what you want out of the position.

3. Are your expectations grounded and realistic?

Although a great community manager can do wonders as a part of a team, it’s unreasonable to expect anyone to jump in and be a quick fix to a big problem. If your company has developed a consumer facing web product, and for some reason you expect the hiring of a community manager to somehow instantly grow your customer base or rapidly shift the public’s perception of your product overnight, it unfortunately just isn’t going to happen. Make sure your expectations are more than just a well conceived pipe dream.

A social media manager is NOT a community manager

It’s a common misconception, but the truth is that a community manager isn’t a person who solely sends marketing messages or fields customer service inquiries via social networking sites. While the aforementioned can be a portion of the community manager’s workload, especially within a smaller team, there’s a clear cut difference between a social media and a community manager. Some businesses need a community person, some need a social media person, some need both, and some aren’t ready for either.

3 Signs that you’re not ready for a community manager

1. You don’t have anything that resembles a community

For the sake of simplicity, a community can be defined as a group of people who talk about and who are clearly interested in what is that you do. If no one is talking about your business or your industry than you’re either A) not suited to have a community manager because the niche you’re in is too narrow B) you’re not looking hard enough or C) you haven’t differentiated or marketed your brand in a way that’s currently worthy of attention.

2. Your priorities are elsewhere

For community management to really work all your ducks must be in a row. This can vary, but most of the time these ducks are: sales, web / product design, management and business development, and marketing. If you’re weak in one of these areas community management probably shouldn’t be your first priority.

3. You’re too small or too lean

How much does a community manager cost? A recent survey by Social Fresh found that the average community manager now makes around $50k a year, a number that’s beyond reasonable for someone who is qualified; and while there’s certainly nothing wrong with hiring an intern or an employee at a low paying wage, keep in mind that in most cases you’ll get what you pay for.

Are you ready?

If you’ve weighed out your options, sorted expectations, and have critically assessed your need for a community manager, and are still confident about making a change, than YES by all means it’s time to bring someone on. Community management executed in the right environment is one of the more natural ways of boosting brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, and word of mouth marketing. It all starts with knowing who and when to hire.

Image credit: Anthony Quintano

A defining characteristic of Facebook as a technology company, and perhaps the primary reason why it’s stayed well ahead of all the competition, has been their knack for staying innovative by fearlessly shaking up the design of their network ecosystem on a consistent basis by introducing new features at the drop of a hat. It’s frustrating for users who fear change, but it’s also the reason why Facebook is as succesful as it is. The minute a user gets comfortable with the design, everything changes overnight. February 29th 2012 will end as just another one of those days.

As many had expected, today Facebook released a slew of new features that are going to have a significant impact on how page owners rep their brands and interact with fans. The changes have been outlined in detail, but to summarize some of the highlights:

1. Timeline replaces ALL landing pages

Page owners: stop and absorb the weight of this information. All pages will now default to a brand’s Timleline and thus can no longer have a custom tab set as the initial landing page. Applications and custom tabs are still in play, but can no longer be the first thing a visitor sees.

2. Every page gets a banner

Just like user profiles, every branded page gets an 851 by 315 photo displayed at the top of the Timeline.

3. Messages

Page owners can now receive messages from fans via their pages. Instead of fans posting negative feedback or questions on the wall, they now have the option to communicate directly with the brand. This should be noted as a huge step forward in establishing Facebook as a channel for customer service.

4. Featured (pinned) posts

Pages owners have been given the ability to pin any type of status update, such as news, user posts, or photos, to the top corner of their page underneath the banner image.

While it’s a visual feast and a lot to take in all at once, Timeline for pages represents a number of exciting opportunities for brands. When a visitor lands on a page they’re now presented with a large and encompassing look at a company’s past and present. Brands have the opportunity to display not just current happenings and promotions, but also historical events and accomplishments. AT&T’s Timeline goes back as far 1878 and the New York Times has an image of their first publication back in 1851 at the bottom of their page.

It’s going to take some initial work to get everything in place and established (pages owners have until the end of March when Timelime officially becomes mandatory for all pages), but the end result can potentially open up many new doors for brands and their fans.

Regardless of the evidence I’m compelled to look at the glass as half full and can’t help but to have empathy for Google+, that awkward new kid on the block who despite his continued efforts of trying to fit it in is still having trouble winning people over. After approximately 9 months in the public eye, is it time to call Google+ out for what it really is or is the verdict still up for debate?

After reading through two separate commentaries today, Jon Mitchell had some words of advice on how Google can step up its game, while on the flip side Michael Gray wasn’t hesitant to categorize the company’s biggest push into social as a quote “Epic Failure”, I’m still not convinced that Google+ has reached its peak in terms of adoption or usability. Unlike Google Wave and Buzz (remember those?), Google+ has stood confident, as if hinting to the naysayers that it’s not afraid to hang around for the long haul. If the large television ad campaign, live broadcasting of an Obama Hangout, or massive integration with almost all of the company’s other prominent services wasn’t enough to grab your attention, Google’s ongoing commitment of merging G+ into search (dubbed Search Plus Your World) should do the trick if you’re someone who cares in the slightest about internet market or SEO.

Although I respectfully disagree with those who want to call it the second generation of social media, the odds of G+ gaining market share comparable to that of what Facebook has earned is out right laughable, standing on it’s own Google+ deserves credit. Look past the fact that your non tech obsessed friends aren’t using it and you’ll see a clean, user friendly, intuitive social network. Delegating contacts into circles makes sense and is easy enough, albeit time consuming, to do and Hangouts can be quite useful for those who like to use video chat or want a trustworthy alternative to Skype. Take a step back and it’s reasonable to conclude that Google has built a fine service, one that’s worthy of attention. The real reason Google+ hasn’t reached household name fame yet is twofold: #1 being that in all likelihood Google is late to the party and should have released something just like this several years ago and #2 that this is actually a long term play and needs time to develop. It’s going to take years, not months to gain significant traction.

Regardless if it ultimately sinks or floats, right now isn’t the time to ignore or write off Google+. In this case patience really is a virtue.

As Facebook prepares to launch its $5 billion IPO and turn scores of once humble members of Team Zuckerberg into millionaires and billionaires overnight, the whispering on the Web is that social media like Facebook and Twitter are killing Google, and search in general.

The reason for this speculation is simple: people are growing more accustomed to polling their growing networks of friends regarding their questions about X and Y rather than asking Google. The ease, addictiveness and entertaining nature of “frictionless sharing” is just more appealing to information seekers than interacting with a faceless search engine, say some tech pundits.

There are those that disagree, however, and they make a compelling argument. To say Google remains an Internet powerhouse is arguably an understatement. It’s true the company controls the lion’s share of the search market, but the real ace up Google’s sleeve is the introduction of Google+ and the search giant’s growing integration of Web products.

Although still in its infancy, Google+ is being touted by those in the know as the second generation of social media. Google’s ability to tie its social network to an ever-expanding phalanx of subsidiary entities and services, from Google Maps and Gmail to YouTube and Picasa, will likely redefine people’s understanding of a fully integrated Web experience.

And, redefining the way people use the Web is just the beginning for Google. The company’s acquisition of Motorola is setting the stage for it to wade into the market of hardware and it is rumored Google techs have been hard at work for more than a year developing an “entertainment device” that could result in Google’s physical presence in homes around the world in the near future.

Of course, an argument could be made that all of this is getting away from search and that Google’s evolution in these other areas is a tangent that stands apart from people’s relationship with the basic search function. Maybe, but a more comprehensive examination of the “fight” between social media and search must include Google’s expanding services, which are undoubtedly influenced by the algorithms that make it the king of search.

The increasing power of social media like Facebook and Twitter can’t be gainsaid, and analysts are surely correct that their growing presence will chip away at Google’s search market share; however, to even suggest that these entities are killing Google is nothing more than a passing meme that will soon be replaced by whatever is trending tomorrow in the ultra-fast, ultra-fickle world of social media.

This article was written by James Madeiros who writes for Sparkplug Digital, a Seattle SEO company offering SEO services for tech companies and startups.

Photo courtesy of Jon Fingas

Several months ago seemingly overnight Google launched its new social network Google+ into the surprised and delighted hands of the hungry tech and early adopter crowd. Tech blogs and media pundits were ablaze for days and weeks touting their praises and critiques, while subsequently pouring gasoline onto the fire of hype that had accumulated. Some of us jumped in head first and immediately began experimenting, while others stood by at a safe distance and waited for the dust to clear before forming an opinion, let alone a marketing and communications strategy around the social network. Soon the next logical set of questions arose.

When are the business pages coming?
What will they look like?
When can we sign up?

How can we earn income, fans, and brand exposure from this?
Ah yes, the REAL questions. When can we use this social networking for marketing purposes? When can we exploit this social network for our own gain?

Right now there is a legion of online social networks and communities publicly available to anyone who is willing to invest a minute or two to sign up and provide an email address. This list via Wikipedia reveals some of the more popular and obscure networks (ever tried Muxlim, Blogster, or Wakoopa?)

Facebook and Twitter, along with LinkedIn and YouTube to a lesser extent, have become the accepted norms and have made their way into a regular part of many of our marketing strategy conversations.

What’s next? Where are the new opportunities?

The problem is that they’re often hidden. None of us, even the perceived media intellectuals, have a crystal ball that can tell which social networks are going to pop and which ones are going to fizzle next. It can be frustrating; especially considering that early adopters and those who can leverage the benefits of a social network early can be exposed to previously untapped opportunities.

In the face of this conundrum, I’d like to propose opportunity hunting over exploitation.

Let’s unpack this:

Exploitation is creating a branded Foursquare account and adding strangers randomly with no goal others than that of building up friend count.

Exploitation is taking a business onto Quora (which still currently violates the user policy of the site) and answering questions in hopes of being perceived as helpful.

Opportunity hunting is more about testing the waters of a social network. Cast out and if the fish don’t bite try a different approach or wait patiently for them to show up. No harm, no foul. Tumblr is a great place to be hunting right now. As a social network it’s had impressive growth and likely isn’t going to disappear anytime in the foreseeable future. Not every business will have success on Tumblr, but business to consumer brands with a younger audience might have a shot at success. Dailybooth, a photo based social network, is another place that might be worth exploring. Again it depends on the brand and the audience.

The message here is to walk into the unknown not only with caution, but with the right motives. A social network is a place where people take precedence and brands should only join in if and when they’re welcomed and nonintrusive. The goal here is to build trust and positive brand equity through marketing, as opposed to shady tactics. After all, reputation matters, right?

Right?

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