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Headsup: Twitter Ads Are On Their Way February 26, 2010

The iPad and the Customer Dilemma February 19, 2010

Coming soon: the iPad, a device that will change the world.

Or so you’d be led to believe, listening to Steve Jobs introducing the device a few weeks ago:

Magazine publishers in particular are quick to embrace the possibilities of this new distribution mechanism. Inevitably, WIRED magazine has been one of the first to prototype its offerings on the iPad. The mag sure scrubs up well through the device: see the WIRED demo video here

Interview Magazine, another early adopter of gizmos and gadgets, has put together its own demo (reported and demoed via the Huffington Post).

Will They, Won’t They (Pay)?

Publishers seem to think that the iPad will deliver revenues that simply aren’t happened across the traditional web. Are they right or are they simply dreaming?

First the good news. According to a recent Nielsen survey of 27,000 Web users in 52 countries, almost 50% of respondents would consider paying for online access to a magazine, while a little over 40% said they would pay for newspaper content on the Web.

However, a couple of caveats:

• Better than three out of every four Nielsen survey participants (78%) believe if they already subscribe to a newspaper, magazine, radio or television service they should be able to use its online content for free.
• At the same time, 71% of global consumers say online content of any kind will have to be considerably better than what is currently free before they will pay for it.
  Good news for the illustrious iPad, then.

As the Financial Times notes in a recent report, however, there are some issues still to be resolved before the iPad can truly deliver the profitable, micro-paymented future sought by content providers (whether they hail from newspaper or magazine publishing or from the broadcast media).

The first is the matter of revenue-sharing. Some content creators are unhappy with revenue splits of 30% Apple, 70% provider — although arguably Apple’s share is not out of line with monies accruing to traditional resellers of the content.

The major stumbling block seems to be the notion of 30% commission forever — print publishers in particular have built up a revenue model based around high initial customer acquisition costs, recouped thanks to lower retention costs over the lifetime of a customer. The Apple terms will require a wholesale re-evaluation of longstanding business models. Which may not be a bad thing — for consumers, at least — encouraging long-term customer pampering strategies rather than upfront bribes followed by ongoing benign neglect.

A more serious concern for content providers, however, is the matter of who controls the customer data. As the Financial Times reports:

Apple’s practice of sharing with its partners little consumer data beyond sales volume is a problem. “Is it a dealbreaker? It’s pretty damn close,” said one senior media executive of a major US metropolitan daily newspaper.

Publishers have spent decades collecting information about subscribers such as names, addresses, locations and credit card numbers that influence marketing plans and, in some cases, the content of the publication itself. Apple’s policy would separate them from their most valuable asset, publishing executives said.

“We must keep the relationship with our readers,” says Sara Öhrvall , senior vice-president of research at Swedish publisher Bonnier, echoing the sentiment of other media executives spoken to by the Financial Times. “That’s the only way to make a good magazine.”

It’s a sentiment that’s hard to argue with. There’s massive value in intelligent customer segmentation — and the digital world offers ever more sophisticated ways to slice and dice, to everyone’s benefit. Publishers in particular have acquired vast expertise in direct marketing, and could use that knowledge to great effect through iPad-delivered initiatives, increasing revenues for themselves and for Apple in the process.

The music business, on which Apple cuts its digital teeth, was different. The record industry in general knew very little about its customers (with occasional exceptions — you know who you are, Grateful Dead). But many publishers (especially of magazines) have survived and thrived thanks to close relationships with their subscribers. It makes poor economic sense to disconnect that linkage.

Not that Mr Jobs is reading these words, but if he stumbled across them, we’d urgently recommend he reconsider his user data philosophies and enter into meaningful data-sharing in this new offering. It’ll result in more earnings for Apple Inc., okay?

The New Zeal of the Music Industry February 18, 2010

Last week Loyalty New Zealand announced that the Fly Buys programme now has 280,000 songs available to download via Fly Buys Music, after signing a contract with Universal Music New Zealand.

According to the company, 65% of all music is now available on Fly Buys Music, including artists from two of the main music industry players, Sony and Universal.

Fly Buys members can redeem points in exchange for 30-, 60- or 90-song download vouchers, The music downloads are DRM-free in MP3 format.

The Fly Buys Music programme is just the latest example of the evolution of the music industry (previously digital atheists) into digipreneurs — with digital downloads the currency of choice.

Other examples? Per Musically.com: in mid-2009, EMI North America announced a partnership with Pollard Banknote to create music-themed scratch-off lottery games. Players could win either cash or prizes such as album downloads and ring tones, redeemed by an EMI-operated website. EMI gets the full wholesale cost of the downloads while Pollard gets a younger demographic to buy its scratchcards.

Then came a prepaid Visa Card programme with MYPLASH, offering artist-themed cards to consumers that are non-credit card carrying teens, calling it a ‘public badge of honor for fans’. Sold in supermarkets, the cards also offer an awards scheme that lets cardholders redeem their points for merchandise, cheap downloads and other EMI promotions.

Then there’s Vevo.com, the record-industry-owned music video site. As we’ve previously blogged (on MarketingWeek.co.nz):

Interscope-Geffen-A&M Chairman Jimmy Iovine painted the big picture [for the music business]:

“Vevo for the first time will give labels the ability to push out our product without having to go through radio or TV stations. Before, we had to make it, ship it and pray for a hit. Now, with Vevo, we can create the content, sell the ads, and even use the data to market new music to people alongside things they already like.”

Beats litigating against your customers anyday.

Social Media Marketing – The eCourse February 17, 2010

Last week we mentioned our upcoming MARKETING REBOOTED eCourse on Social Media Marketing. We then went on to explore the course in detail in our companion Marketing Week newsletter on Monday.

For those of you who aren’t subscribers to Marketing Week, here are the main points of the course:

Course S-1: Social Media
This is a seven-week eCourse providing a comprehensive introduction to Social Media Marketing, from the Basics to detailed instructions on how to build and run a Social Media programme.
 
This eCourse is conducted on a web-based e-learning software platform, enabling course participants to proceed at their own pace, accessing materials online. This particular eCourse provides content in a variety of multimedia forms, including videos, slideshows, flash-based presentations and PDF files. No special software is required to participate.
 
 
TIMING
The first eCourse in the 2010 series starts on Monday March 1, with the delivery to participants of the Introduction and Lesson One. New lessons will be delivered weekly on Mondays.
 
 
COURSE CREATION AND TUTORING
This course has been created and will be tutored by Michael Carney.
 
 
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
Any Marketing, Advertising, PR or Communications professionals (whether client-side or supplier-side) who, while they may have a fair knowledge of what social media options are out there, don’t know how to use them effectively (and have a perfectly reasonable fear of doing the wrong thing in a very public arena).
 
 
WHAT YOU SHOULD LEARN AS A RESULT OF THE COURSE:

• The principles of effective marketing in social media
• Which social networks are strongest in New Zealand, who uses them and how to sign up
• What social media can do for your (or your clients’) business
• How to build a social media programme (you’ll start constructing your own during the course)
• The best tools and techniques for monitoring social networks
• How to really understand and engage with the consumer
• How to create relevant, informative, killer content for your social media programme
• How to define and measure meaningful numbers to determine the success (or otherwise) of your social media activities
• Answering those questions that (if you’re not prepared) could kill your career 
• How to watch for, and adapt to, the Next Big Thing in Social Media (whatever that is)

COURSE CONTENTS
 
INTRODUCTION: WHY SOCIAL MEDIA SILENCE IS DEADLY

LESSON ONE: THE BASICS. I’VE JUST ARRIVED FROM OUTER SPACE. TELL ME ABOUT THESE “SOCIAL NETWORKS”.
 
LESSON TWO: SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOU. I’M AFRAID OF INTRUDING IN SOCIAL MEDIA – ALL THOSE CONSUMERS WILL TRASH MY BRAND
 
LESSON THREE: BUILDING THE PLAN. ENOUGH TALK ALREADY, LET’S START BUILDING SOMETHING
 
LESSON FOUR: MONITORING. DON’T SAY A THING. JUST LISTEN FIRST (EVEN FOR JUST 10 MINUTES A DAY), THEN THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE HEARING. MAYBE THEN YOU CAN TALK.
 
LESSON FIVE: ENGAGEMENT. WILL CONSUMERS REALLY ENGAGE WITH ME AND MY BRAND, OR WILL THEY JUST BE POLITE? (IF THEY THINK YOU’RE ANNOYING OR INTRUSIVE, DON’T WORRY, THEY’LL TELL YOU)
 
LESSON SIX: CREATING KILLER CONTENT. TELL ME STUFF THAT’S REALLY INTERESTING – AND STOP SELLING AT ME, THIS ISN’T A USED CAR LOT
 
LESSON SEVEN: METRICS AND ROI. OVERCOMING THOSE QUESTIONS THAT KILL MARKETING CAREERS

CONCLUSION: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE, AND WHO’S DRIVING?
 
Additional course details are available at www.MarketingRebooted.co.nz or by downloading the course outline (Microsoft Word format).
 
 
————————
 
INVESTMENT
This seven-part eCourse is available for $297 +GST. However we are making a special EARLY BIRD OFFER available for just $197 +GST, for bookings and payment received before 5pm THIS MONDAY 22 FEBRUARY, so if you are interested we recommend you book right away.
 
To book and pay by credit card (via secure provider PayPal), simply click here: BOOK NOW

If you would prefer to pay by cheque or bank deposit, please send an email to bookings@marketingrebooted.co.nz with your contact details. We will provide a tax invoice (please indicate in whose name you would like the invoice to be made out) which must be paid before 5pm Monday 22 February to secure your Early Bird rate.
 

PS If you’re a subscriber to Marketing Week, our apologies — you’ve already received these details. Still, a reminder doesn’t hurt, especially with our EARLY BIRD BOOKING DISCOUNT about to expire!

This Week’s Hot Kiwi eStats: Blogs February 17, 2010

There are, reports Ken Perrott on his Open Parachute blog, more than 1000 New Zealand blogs that he has been able to identify. Just 152 of them make their statistics publicly accessible.

Based on that subset of data, these were the Top 10 New Zealand Blogs (amongst the 152) for the seven days ending Wednesday 17 February 2010, in terms of daily visits and pageviews:

In case you’re wondering about some of the other high-profile NZ blogs out there: Tumeke reported at the end of 2009 on average daily visits for Kiwiblog of 7300, Whaleoil/Gotcha 3200, The Standard 2200, Cactus Kate at 1900 and Not PC at 1460.

Facebook Zero February 17, 2010

Get ready for Facebook Zero, a stripped-down, text-only version of the social network.

The BBC is reporting that the low-bandwidth site is aimed at people viewing Facebook on their mobile and will launch “in the coming weeks”.

The social network recently said that more than 100 million people [a quarter of the membership] now access Facebook from their phone.

Data from industry body the GSM Association recently revealed that Facebook accounts for nearly half of all the time people in the UK spend going online using their phones. The data showed that people in the UK spent around 2.2bn minutes browsing the social network during December alone.

Facebook said the new Zero site “omits data intensive applications like photos”.

Will Facebook Zero appeal to Kiwis?

According to Nielsen Media’s Panorama research (Q4 2008-Q3 2009), 20% of New Zealanders aged 10+ now have a smart phone* (725,000). No, they’re not all iPhones, but these phones are smart enough to get onto the net. and mobile data costs are slowly reducing. A low-bandwidth offering could be just the ticket to encourage more Kiwis to climb aboard the mobile Facebook bandwagon.

*Definition of a ‘smart phone’: Mobile phone with, at minimum, the following features – Internet (WAP) and sends email and receives email

The Secret of Sharing Online February 12, 2010

It’s likely, of course, that this result is influenced at least in part by the source material: the New York Times, certainly a more cerebral read than many of the alternatives out there. And, of course, the Times is not typically a source of ribald comments or bad jokes.

.

Even so, the study has implications for marketers as well as content creators: awe-inspiring communications are naturally viral, and long copy still works.

Time for us marketers to lift our game?

Facebook, Twitter and the Anti-Spam Law February 10, 2010

In recognition of the fast-growing power of Facebook in particular, Trade Me last week added social sharing links to all auction listings, enabling visitors to share any listing on either Facebook or Twitter.

The move raises an interesting question: does using Twitter and Facebook to pass on commercial messages contravene the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act?

When New Zealand’s anti-spam legislation came into effect in September 2007, it had at least one unintended consequence on otherwise-legitimate New Zealand marketers: the previously popular device of “Friend Get Friend”, FGF, (encouraging consumers to tell their friends about the sponsor’s fine products — suddenly fell into a very grey area.

Given the provisions of the Act, was FGF now illegal (as seemed to be the case)? The question was of especial importance to Trade Me, who had previously provided easy email facilities for members to email auction details to their friends. It was a great method of helping unusual auctions to go viral. Was the party now over?

The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act was intended to stamp out spammers, not hinder legitimate Kiwi businesses just trying to market their wares effectively. Would the Act kill “advertiser-assisted” viral marketing?

You’ll be relieved to learn that,after a time of wonder, a reasonable interpretation of the Act led to the following advice being given by the Department of Internal Affairs (who administer the Act):

Friend get friend campaigns, or ‘viral marketing’, usually encourage subscribers to provide the name and email address of a friend who is then sent a commercial electronic message and emailed by the company or promoter encouraging them to opt in/register.

An electronic message such as this would be unsolicited because the friend has not consented to receiving the message from the company or promoter. Consequently if the message was commercial (i.e. marketing or promoting goods, services, land, a business or investment opportunity) it would be considered spam. However, if the companies’ email is forwarded by the recipient to a friend(s) this is usually okay.

For example: A and B are good friends, and send each other emails on a routine basis. Company C has an express consent from A to send commercial emails to them. A then decides to forward to B commercial emails he received from company C. If it can be assumed from the relationship that B is happy to receive the commercial emails forwarded by A, consent could reasonably be inferred.

That consent, however, will not exist between the company and B. If the company only had A’s consent, it cannot assume B has consented to receive its commercial emails.

In most cases, the relationship between A and B is not likely to be of interest to the Anti-Spam Unit, unless B complained about A’s emails. In that case, the onus will be on A to show that inferred consent existed.

In other words, if marketers solicit friends’ email addresses and then send out commercial entreaties, that’s spam. But if marketers merely provide the tools for consumers to use, that should be typically be a permitted arrangement under the Act.

BUT WAIT

Skip ahead a couple of years and now there’s Twitter and Facebook being used in a Friend Get Friend capacity — not just by Trade Me, of course, but their example started us thinking about those services and marketers’ increasing attempts to harness the power of the social networks for commercial gain.

Before you ask — no social networking service is specifically mentioned in the Act, but the carefully-constructed legislation catches them anyway. The Act governs the sending of Unsolicited Electronic Messages to electronic addresses, and defines the latter thus:

electronic address means an address used in connection with—
(a) an email account; or
(b) an instant messaging account; or
(c) a telephone account; or
(d) a similar account

In other words, Twitter and Facebook (and other digital distractions not yet born) are caught in the Act (under ‘d’) in the same way as email et al.

FRIEND TWEET FRIEND?

You’d have to say that a whole lot of the birdseed spread through the twitterverse would indeed attract a “Caution — may contain spam” label. Of course, if you sign up to follow a Twitterer, you are effectively giving permission to them to send you stuff — and if they’re a commercial enterprise, then clearly you can expect to receive commercial messages.

But what if you follow an individual, who typically shares his/her transient living habits (“What a night — ### was SO ######d”). Suddenly, you receive a tweet about an auction — or a new CD — or whatever. Spam? Back to that grey area.

IN YOUR FACEBOOK

Same scenario, different planet. Your Facebook Newsfeed, usually so trivial/personal, is suddenly polluted by a commercially corrupted, soon-to-be-un-friend.

Spam too? Looks that way, especially if there’s a marketer lurking in the wings fanning the friendly flames of ‘Free! Buy now!’.

We should also be conscious of the need for transparency in the online space (as demanded by the US Federal Trade Commission and its October 2009 Guidelines requiring that that bloggers and other marketers be upfront and honest about endorsements and testimonials, and disclose when promotional commentary has been paid for by the producers of any product or service being endorsed). We may not have legislated for that transparency in NZ yet (except perhaps loosely under the Fair Trading Act), but it’s probably on someone’s agenda for the near future.

WASSUP THEN?

We’re of the view that the Trade Me example — mild encouragement to share socially with friends — is as acceptable under the legislation as was moderate emailing encouragement back in the day (circa 2007).

But we’d certainly warn Kiwi marketers to proceed with caution when inviting consumers to spruik on their behalf in the social sphere. It may be a new frontier but it’s neither unpoliced nor unpunished.

Show Us The Money February 9, 2010

84% of communications professionals worldwide simply haven’t been measuring the ROI of their Social Media programs. That’s what they confessed when asked in August 2009 by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, for their study “Social Software In Business”. And we’re not just talking about chilling on Facebook — the study’s definition of Social Media included “blogs, chat, discussion boards, microblogs, podcasts, ratings sites, social networks, video-sharing, wikis and the like”.

It was a gloriously giddy time, but now reality is biting. Marketers (or, perhaps worse, their CEOs and CFOs) are starting to demand social metrics.

SmartBrief on Social Media‘s mid-August 2009 newsletter posed the question to its readership of social media marketers: What is the most important metric to track in social media?

The results:

• Virality (the reach of your brand and how much your message is spread), 35%
• Sentiment (positive, negative or indifferent consumer reaction), 32%
• Financials (the effect social media has on your bottom line), 20%
• Volume (number of comments, blog posts, tweets, links, etc. about your brand), 11%
• Other, 2%

It’s a conversation that’s beginning to happen in Australia and New Zealand as well, according to Nielsen Online. The market research organisation, whose metrics are “the currency” for traditional media measurement in New Zealand, already provides Word of Mouth listening tools in this region, and is likely to be getting into social media metrics in due course.

We explore the topic in depth in our upcoming series of ecourses we’re calling MARKETING REBOOTED — the things that marketers need to know to flourish in a digital world.

The first MARKETING REBOOTED ecourse starts on March 1, and we’ll share more details next week. We’re keeping the numbers low for this first programme, so if you’re interested, please drop us an email at editor@ebuzz.co.nz.

Google Buzz (no relation) February 9, 2010

We note in passing that Google has launched Google Buzz, another front in its assault on Facebook and Twitter. Google Buzz is currently being rolled out globally, and these are what Google considers its key features:

• No setup needed
  Automatically follow the people you email and chat with the most in Gmail.
• Share publicly or privately
  Publish your ideas to the world or just to your closest friends.
• Inbox integration
  Comments get sent right to your inbox so it’s easy to keep the conversation going.
• Photo friendly
  See thumbnails with each post, and browse full-screen photos from popular sites.
• Connect sites you already use
  Import your stuff from Twitter, Picasa, Flickr, and Google Reader.
• See updates in real time
  New posts and comments pop in as they happen. No refresh required.
• Just the good stuff
  Buzz recommends interesting posts and weeds out ones you’re likely to skip.
• Buzz from your phone
  See buzz around you and tag posts with your location.

We’re assuming Google Buzz must be good — both Microsoft and Yahoo have already lashed out at the offering.

If you want a helicopter overview of Google Buzz, watch the video:

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