Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester released a follow-up survey / report today on social media during the recession. The report entitled “Social Media Playtime Is Over,” found that 95% of social media marketers will maintain or increase social media spending in the downturn. The news is fairly interesting when you take into account that 93% of CMO’s polled by the ANA in February indicated they are examining cost savings and reductions and 77 percent were reducing advertising campaign media budgets. Social media – as Bernoff notes – is one of the few marketing tactics/areas that isn’t being affected by these cuts. Owyang specifies on his blog that 53% of marketers are determined to increase their social media budget during a recession, while 42% will keep it the same.
With the smaller fees that social media consulting and implementation curtail versus advertising (especially broadcast), and measurable ROI it provides, the results aren’t that surprising. However, Owyang rightly notes that the days of playing with different ideas are over and marketers are focused on social media strategy and campaigns that can provide real ROI. Forrester and Jupiter have stressed the need for measurable ROI in interactive marketing campaigns often in the past. However, as B.L. Ochman chronicles nicely, until we get more clients and prospective corporations up to speed with agencies that are on the leading edge of this movement – it will be nearly impossible to provide that ROI.
In what is considered a professional sports first, Milwaukee Bucks forward (and Uconn Alum) Charlie Villanueva posted a message on Twitter during halftime of his game against the Celtics on Sunday:
In da locker room, snuck to post with my twitt. We’re playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up.
With professional athletes seemingly taking up Twitter with open arms, the micro-social networking site has begun to change the fan’s method of obtaining information on their favorite sports teams. Instead of watching Sunday’s basketball and having a sideline reporter tell viewers what went on during the Milwaukee’s halftime meeting, players can alert fans themselves, telling them exactly what is happening while it’s happening.
Senators have also begun using Twitter as a tool to connect with their constituents and tell them what they are doing, what decisions they are making, and what votes are coming up. Again, this communication cuts out the reporter and providers the reader/viewer with the information they are looking for directly, instead of through a third party.
This new model of information obviously has advantages and disadvantages, but the opportunity it creates is certainly valuable. However, it’s important not to eliminate the media, which can often provide us with investigative reporting and bring our attention to the bad news that could otherwise be brushed under the carpet.
What’s your take on the current media model? Are we moving to a Twitter-run world?
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer made it official today, announcing that they will print the final issue of the 146-year old newspaper tomorrow. Like the Rocky Mountain News, cameras were present to document the next-to-last day in a new media way, via the embedded online video. Expect more videos to come, as the Seattle P-I moves to online only.
After all, whilst marketers consider the 30 second ad to be on its last legs because it tries to wallop all and sundry, you can take longer to get your point over if you’re talking to those whose interest is already sparked and who want to find out more.
My last post featured a video and an animation, and I promised to come back with some more formats for starting a conversation in an interesting way. For topical reasons I have another animation for your interest, but the main feature in this post is a call-to-action-microsite.
Burma – It Can’t Wait
Fanista, a community for entertainment enthusiasts, started a corporate initiative to drive awareness and generate consumer participation for the US Campaign for Burma.
The resultant microsite, www.burmaitcantwait.com, centres around an image of Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner now under house arrest in Burma, and features fifty short videos with entertainment and music celebrities describing the horrible situation in Burma and asking for public support (including the video at the top of this post featuring Will Ferrell).
The videos were also distributed on a YouTube Channel.
How effective was the microsite?…
Over 1 million video views on YouTube and the microsite
Hundreds of blogs embedded the videos
Achieved YouTube Editorial Spotlight – became “most discussed,” “top favorites” and “top rated” in countries around the world
The campaign was covered by over 200 media articles including a New York Times feature and a LA Times article
The Facebook App generated thousands of downloads with friend-to-friend acceptance rate twice the average rate
The microsite had a 6:48 min average user engagement time
Now that’s an interesting way to start a conversation!
[Disclosure - the microsite was developed by Digital Influence Group, a sister company to Racepoint Group.]
The Crisis of Credit
And here’s that topical animation I mentioned. I’m fairly business and financially literate, but I found it less than easy to establish what had happened to cause this global financial meltdown let alone explain it to others.
Animation to the rescue. Imagine the kudos a financial institution could reap in recent times if it took time out to converse with its highly concerned stakeholders in an interesting way, in a way that said “hey, we know what’s happened and we know how to explain it too”.
Unfortunately, unless I’ve missed it, they are obviously too busy trying to secure their annual bonuses.
So the task is left to Jonathan Jarvis. Now Jonathan isn’t looking to start a conversation with you about the credit crunch, but as a Master of Fine Arts Candidate on the Media Design Programme at the Art Center College of Design, I’m sure he’d be delighted to start a conversation with you in respect of his skills and your employment of them!
