Social Media KingPin

Well the quest for Facebook to take over the world has even greater support. Mark Zuckerburg was named 2010 Person of the Year by Time Magazine. Zuckerburg was responsible for creating one of the most pivotal products on the social media landscape and changing life as many know it. Some interesting Facebook facts from the Time article found here: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037183,00.html?xid=yahoo-feat that might get the marketer’s mouth watering:

-There are over 550 million people on Facebook

-More than 700 billion minutes are spent on Facebook per month (by all 550 million people combined)

-Membership is growing at a rate of 700,000/day

-Counts for 1/4 of American page views

-Almost half of America has Facebook, which only makes up about 30% of the total users

What do you see next for Facebook?  (aside from another profile page redesign, oye.)

In scary emerging media news. . .

Yikes. Found this article on Mashable: http://mashable.com/2010/12/26/xwave-controls-iphone-graphics-with-your-brain/. Apparently the newest iPhone gizmo is a gadget that allows users to play with and control the graphics shown on screen with their brains…brainwaves. The product is retailed at $100 and looks like a combination between a administrative assistant’s phone headset and the headgear that used to be worn with braces. You won’t be able to read people’s mind’s per se, but you will know if they are calm, excited, agitated, relaxed, etc. Kind of a waste but interesting none the less.

Ways a marketer could partner? Travel industry could use images of beaches and other pictures of their destinations to assist with calming the user and then once the desired level of peace was obtained they could then route them a link to the location where the calming scene can be had in real life.  Probably far off, but not a bad thought. How would you recommend it be used?

 

Emerging in emerging

One of the biggest things on Facebook, love them or hate them are the game applications. The requests for Farmville, Mafia Wars, Frontierville, Kingdoms of Camelot, Sorority Life, Cafe World and others seem never ending somedays, let alone if you miss a week or two. Admittedly, I “play” all of the above. I say “play” because there are some that get played regularly and others that I have gotten so far behind in that I just don’t even bother anymore. (Good thing animals and trees don’t die in Farmville, at least last time I checked they didn’t.)

That being said, companies are starting to catch on to the Facebook game popularity and have begun sponsoring sections, awards and even entire games themselves. This clearly allows a brand that isn’t sure at what level they want to invest in gaming advertising to test the waters in ways that are comfortable to them. ESPN, Maxwell House, PopSugar, Honda and hosts of other brands have gotten involved in advergaming through Facebook games. A MediaPost article from December 15 discusses State Farms tie-in with the popular Car Town game (note to self: go look that one up.) Just like that, State Farm has tapped into over 7 million users through a program that can relate cars to the company’s car insurance.

With so many games available, there are many opportunities. Since the creator of the game is usually the direct party to work with there are endless options for ways to incorporate a brand. Even greater is the ability to target by game, industry, interests etc. based on the game. Maxwell House and other food products- Cafe World, John Deere, etc- Farmville. Marketers just need to seek and find the right options, games and levels in order to tap into this new and emerging media found in a king among emerging media.

A few articles surrounding this opportunity are:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-23/facebook-s-car-town-draws-honda-ads-in-marketing-shift-to-online-games.html

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=141386

Network down, Fail whales and other near death experiences

Wow, so the Verizon 3G network is down. I knew but had to come online to check for myself. (http://mashable.com/2010/12/08/verizon-3g-network-down/) What’s a girl (or anyone) to do? I was temporarily lost until I found my way to the nearest wireless network and popped open the laptop. The digital deprivation I was subjected to brought about many thoughts regarding emerging media, the connection with consumers and the effects on IMC.

Emerging media is primarily booming because of this connection (some call it obsession) many have with their mobile, wireless, electronic devices. As the growth and popularity increase, businesses will have to work extra hard to stay on top of the innovations in order to keep users connected. Not just in the case of Verizon and other wireless carriers, through literal connections but also content providers and advertisers.

Specifically, advertisers must be able to come up with contingency plans on the fly. Especially when becoming dependent on emerging media which is new and ever changing as a means for connecting to consumers. Imagine any company that released a sales promotion on Twitter on widespread Fail Whale days. Ouch. For those companies that have seen great gains through social media and other digital outlets, the unexpected and unpreventable problems, network errors and the like can throw a monkey wrench into plans. Particularly if the promotion was based on a LTO. While emerging media is great and provides many opportunities, there are still growing pains associated and that must be dealt with. Point being the marketer must be ready to revamp an existing plan on the fly.

Magazines finding new life?

Looks like several magazines are making the adjustments needed to be reach consumers and save themselves. They’re turning to digital subscriptions thanks to gadgets such as e-readers and iPads. Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure and O!, Oprah’s magazine have all jumped on board and developed interactive  digital holiday issues. Better than magazines, there is instant ordering (well, almost) available. More like integrated purchase options where users can purchase products of interest with a click or a tap here and there. Even still, it really pushes other mags in the industry to take notice and should serve as a motivator for magazines and other print media to get creative and embrace new media if they want to hold on to their futures.

The question is, would this work for books? For example, it would be interesting to see if there were instant options to book stays at exotic (or creepy) locations found in the pages of many popular books. Would readers really be interested and receptive to options to link to specific products right from the pages of their favorite novels? Might have new shopaholic confessions if this is an option.

See the video of the Oprah Mag ipad app demo.

Just the Beginning…

Sooooo….with all this new or emerging media engulfing our lives it seems only fitting that as a Media Buyer I share my 2 cents. There are so many types of executions/applications that fall into the category of new and emerging media. What’s your prefered term for it all and what’s your preferred component? Talk to to me! I think my first post will be on the one that has the most impact in my life personally and professionally. Social Media…stay tuned! In the meantime, take a gander at some blogs of interest listed on the side…all are in line with this emerging media phenomenon and provide additional discourse and insight. Enjoy!