Ms. Adverthinker

Thank you to Roby Brock of Talk Business for the invitation to talk about building trust in this information age on his program. Check out the Talk Business site and watch the interview here:

Here are my full thoughts on the topic:

In the online space, we can find almost everything about almost anyone or anything. We are truly living in an information age. We are sharing information about ourselves, we are seeking information about others and from others. Everyone is doing it: consumers, businesses, and organizations. And they are doing it using social tools that allow for instant updates, instant sharing and easy searching. With all this information available, how do consumers know whom to trust? Do they trust the consumer reviews, or the expert analysis? Do they trust their individual friends or large organizations for information?

Whom to trust, as it turns out, is a bit of a moving target. Every year, Edelman conducts a trust survey.  In recent years, with the rise of social media and online reviewing systems, this trust survey has indicated that the public is more inclined to trust “people like me” over corporate entities. However, the economic recession has led consumers to become cynical (more so than they were already), leading to a swing in who and how they trust: (1) the public now wants to hear from credentialed experts and (2) corporate trust and transparency are now just as important as the quality of products and services from that company. Today’s consumers are more skeptical, savvy and sophisticated when it comes to online information.

Facing this modern consumer is daunting to businesses vying for the trust of their audiences: “Though it’s easier than ever to reach your customers, it’s less likely that they’ll listen. Today, the most valuable online currency isn’t the dollar, but trust itself.” (Trust Agents, 2009) So, how does a business work to build that trust and become a favored brand? Here are some starting steps for establishing trustworthiness:

• Be transparent. The online world is defined by the availability of information. To make that information available is to be transparent. Consumers rile at even thought that information they seek is unavailable to them for any reason. And, if a company or organization isn’t providing the information about themselves, someone else (a less trustworthy source) will do it for them and may communicate inaccurate information. Put it all out there.
• Be responsive. When consumers pose a question or express a concern, do not sit on the response in an effort at contemplation or corporate review “up-the-ladder.” Delayed responses only create more frustration among consumers and speculation as to the extent of a problem with the organization. Respond quickly, even if only to acknowledge receipt of the question or concern and promise a timely answer upon further research, if necessary.
• Ask for feedback. And share that feedback. And share the organization’s responses to that feedback. This will give consumers the views of other consumers “like them” and further demonstrate the transparency and responsiveness of the organization.
• Call on experts. Balance the information and perspectives provided directly from the organization and from consumer feedback with expert opinions and advice. These third-party insights will round out the perspectives consumers seek when information-gathering.
• Give them some face time. Use video to communicate the message. “People communicate as much, if not more, with how an idea is conveyed, than with what it said. Shifty eyes and raised shoulders can reveal anxiety; intonation can convey passion. The more non-substantive information the medium can convey, the more data a listener has to decide how trustworthy the speaker is.”

Executing all of these steps at once may not be feasible for a business just starting to engage with their online audience. It is okay to start out with one or two of these methods, then open up into full-on transparency as trust is established. As an example, one of our clients at Stone Ward recently decided to take the plunge into social media using a promotion as its diving board, but they weren’t quite ready for a full-time presence in the space. To introduce this new face to its audience, we created a microsite with a distinct URL separate from the home/traditional site. The idea was that this site would eventually become the community hub and live on past the promotion, but the promotion (sweepstakes) would help draw the initial audience to engage with the brand. Being new to the social media space, the client didn’t have the resources to manage a completely open site and respond as quickly or as completely as necessary to build trust. Given that issue, the site launched with a combination of pre-set content and consumer-contributed content, and allowed for question submissions to an expert. The pre-set content was a bank of “tips” that could be commented on by users, and encouraged user-submitted tips. New tips automatically generated a Twitter post and a Facebook post. The consumer-contributed content was a community forum where users could submit questions and get responses from other users. The “ask the expert” questions were posted with the expert responses for others to view. Additional engagement elements included a daily poll and music playlists that tied into the brand and promotion concept. Starting out with elements that didn’t require daily maintenance and monitoring allowed this brand to introduce themselves to the space, start building relationships and start establishing a basis for trust without risking alienation with an unavoidable misstep due to resource limitation. As a result, the site has lived on past the promotion end and the brand now has a manageable engagement tool that can be built upon when they are ready.

The bottom line: Provide honest and complete information to consumers and their trust will follow. Understand that making information available is necessary for social bonding and while it may feel like putting that information online makes an organization vulnerable to attack, there is a need to reveal that vulnerability to ultimately build trust and relationships. And, if you are not ready for the all the steps to building trust, start out small and build from there.

On Day 2 of SXSW Interactive in Austin, one of the sessions included “How to Create a Viral Video.” This was a panel discussion that included Director of Film and Video at TED, User Experience Manager at YouTube and OK Go band member. This was definitely a team of people who know a bit about the magic of online video.

Jokingly, they started the session by informing us that in order for a video to be successful virally all that was needed were boobs and kittens. It garnered a laugh, but is not necessarily untrue; there are thousands of examples of these successes.

But boobs and kittens won’t work for everyone. The panel had several useful tips for video success:

• Think about he way the video will be seen. If your end use is on the Internet, keep in mind that it will be viewed small. Use tight shots and close-ups so the viewer can actually see what is going on.
• Think about what you would want to watch. There needs to be an element of wonder and surprise. It is all about the reveal.
• Think about your end audience. Would they want to be impressed with a high production value or do they want to identify with the video and think they could do something like that. The production values of successful videos vary; it all depends on what your viewers want.
• Think about creating a smile. Content that goes viral is typically very positive. The negative videos don’t get shared as often. If you want to be a viral success, don’t be a Debbie Downer.
• Think about building a subscriber database before you have the content ready to share. Interact with this database and build your own community. It is not about creating content and hoping people will come.
• Think about how your community can interact with the video. Make people want to be involved with the video by encouraging and embracing shoot-offs, parodies and satires. All of these assist in the infectiousness of your original video.
• Think about engaging with your commenters. Don’t be the distant, anonymous creator. Foster and encourage the discussion.
• Think about aggregating great content that is already out there. You don’t have to create original content to bring people to your site; curate the great content that is already out there.

Small businesses are finally starting to figure out how to make social media work them.  Take Sprinkles, for example.  They were recently highlighted in this LA Times article for their smart use of Facebook:

“Each day on the website, Sprinkles announces a secret word, such as ‘ganache,’ or ‘bunny,’ or ‘tropical,’ or ‘love,’ and the first 25 or 50 people to show up at any of its five stores and whisper that word get a free cupcake.

“‘On Facebook, we can ask our customers what’s the next location they want,’ Nelson said. ‘What do they think of our next flavor? It’s an amazing way to communicate with our fans.’”

This is exactly how small businesses (or even businesses in general) should be using the social media channels: (1) not just pushing information out to their fans or followers, but providing them with a benefit for “friending” or following them, (2) engaging them in dialogue and asking for their opinions, and (3) giving them a reason to come back to your page again and again (or keeping them from “hiding” your brand’s updates from their news feeds.

Social media channels allow small businesses, that can’t afford a website or advertising to drive customers to a website, the opportunity to set up their own space in an existing community.  Increasingly, consumers are searching out their favorite brands on Facebook and businesses that are not there are missing the chance to connect with people (and all their friends).

One local small businesses that is using social media well is The House (on Facebook with just over 1300 fans) and @TheHouseBar (on Twitter with 136 followers).  The House uses these channels to update fans/followers on changes to the menu/hours, scheduled events and when they reopened after some remodeling invited just its Facebook fans to check it out the day before the official reopening.  I don’t think that The House even has an official website: on its Facebook page, the Twitter page is listed as its web address and on its Twitter page, the Facebook page is listed as its web address.

I am sure there are several other local small businesses using social media in a smart way; please send me any examples and I will post them.

Thank you, @DanaDB, for the LA Times article link.

Love this “Know Your Girls” video. Thank you, Yoplait.

Dell decided to target women with a section within their website dedicated to their computer needs: Della.  When the site originally launched, according to this NY Times blog entry, it “featured tech ‘tips’ that recommended calorie counting, finding recipes and watching cooking videos as ways for women to get the most from a laptop.”  Wow, did they look up female stereotypes and plug in everything that fell into that category?  I am surprised that a brand as large (and as experienced with customer service issues) as Dell can make a gaffe like this when targeting women.  To think that women only need a computer for diet tips and recipes is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.  Women revolted:

“But the approach may have done more harm than good: A backlash erupted online, as both women and men described the Web site as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘gimmicky’ and, as one disgruntled Facebook member wrote on Dell’s Facebook page, ‘Lamest move ever!’

The resounding blowback prompted the company to amend the Web site, along with a note that stated, ‘Some of you have read this article over the last several days & will notice a few modifications. You spoke, we listened. Thank you for your ongoing feedback.’”

I didn’t see the site when it originally launched, but I think that it does a nice job of selling the product features and benefits now, without being too girly.  By far, the smartest thing included on the site is a section on giving.  With the purchase of Promise Pink netbook or PC, Dell gives a portion of the proceeds to the Komen Foundation.  And, there is information on how to recycle old/unwanted technology.   I can’t put my fingers on the statistic right now, but I have seen statistics that brands willing to give money/goods for products purchased are more likely to get a woman’s money.

Dell saved themselves by listening to consumer feedback and immediately making changes to the site.  They deserve kudos for that.  But really, they shouldn’t have made such a mistake with the site launch.

For those who still want to argue against the influence of women on the future and their impact online, check this out :

“…42 million women in the United States (roughly 53% of the 79 million adult women in the United States who use the Internet) participate in social media at least weekly. As they spend more time with social media, women are spending correspondingly less time with traditional media: 39% less on newspapers, 36% less time reading magazines, and 30% less time watching TV.” (source)

…

“The women who post to blogs are the most actively engaged. They spend the most time online. Over 80% also participate in social networks like Facebook, and over one third of bloggers also participate in Twitter. But more to the point, those who blog are more likely to be tech savvy, on the leading edge of trends, and invest time searching for new products online.” (source)

These stats are the result of a survey conducted by Blogher in March 2009.  We already know that more women are online than men.  And now we know how engaged they are in the online space and how influential they can be on each other: women reported that they are significantly more likely to make a purchase decision based on customer experiences reported on blogs.  They are relying on blogs for information on politics and news, technology/gadgets, cars and business/career/personal finance.  They are relying on their social networks for social activism, sex/relationship/dating, entertainment and shopping.

Any marketer targeting women should be leveraging the influence of blogs and social networks to communicate brand and product messages, as well as news and information.

• Provide a forum for these women to speak to each other and to you about the brand/products/news.
• Communicate back and worth with these women.
• Reach out to them in their world.  Show that you are paying attention and that you care what they have to say.  Ask for their opinions.
• Monitor what they are saying and address issues and concerns.  Or reward them if they are brand ambassadors.

An interesting video about the ways marketing has changed.

The talk about Twitter right now is abundant.  It seems that it has finally reached the masses and people (and companies) are starting to get more interested in it.  The Wall Street Journal has even written about it.  I signed up for Twitter about a year ago and write my own tweets pretty intermittently - some days I am very active, other days nothing (you can see my latest Twitter posts in the right-hand column on this blog).  However, I keep Twhirl open on my desktop every day and track many people and news organizations.  I am addicted to getting that feed directly to my desktop all day long.

It is an interesting social phenomenon: humans have always been curious about other people’s lives and thoughts, and now people actually want to openly share their lives and have found a way to deliver those straight to your desktop or cell phone instantly.  I am amazed at how open our lives have become, including mine.  I have always been a private person, but now I am sharing everything online and am having fun doing it.  Part of me feels like I have to do it out of fairness: I love reading everyone’s else’s information and I feel too voyeuristic if I am not sharing my own.

(If you love reading about people’s lives and don’t mind feeling voyeuristic, check out PostSecrets: “an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.”  I am also addicted to this site.  Some of the secrets are funny, some are scary and many are sad.  I think this site has a interesting way of making people feel not so alone in the world.  It is also a cool mash-up of traditional communication (mail) with online communication (blog).  It reminds me of a more anonymous Twitter.)

For now, Twitter seems to be best for communicating up-to-the-second news updates and keeping up with your friends.  I am interested to see how companies will use it to communicate with their customers and if customers will actually “follow” companies through Twitter.  How Twitter will be used as a direct marketing tool has not fully been determined yet.  Marketers can (and should) be using Twitter to better understand their customers and their perceptions of brands/companies; we should think of it as an online focus group.  Through the Twitter search feature, we can plug in company names and see what people are saying about us and our clients.

A new Twitter project that I love is My First Tweet.  This was created by Noah Brier of Brand Tags-fame (I am jealous of his ingenuity when it comes to things like this).  My First Tweet is a database of people’s first words on Twitter.  He calls it “an anthropological dig on Twitter.”  Love this.

For those in Arkansas: Thank you to Lance Turner of Arkansas Business for the shout out on his blog as a local Twitter-er.  Check out what Lance says about Twitter here.  Blake Rutherford also recently wrote about his use of Twitter: see his comments at Blake’s Think Tank and follow Blake’s political commentary on Twitter.

You can follow me on Twitter here.

My dog Betty is the center of my world.  To me, she is a person–she has all the personality of a human, she is the size of a human (96 pounds) and she talks to me.  And, yes, I talk to her.  We have a relationship.  Last week I had a conversation with a client over lunch about the love we have for our dogs and their importance in our lives.  She told me a story about taking her dog to the Baskin-Robbins drive through to a cup of vanilla ice cream as a treat.  The dog knows the words “ice cream” and will behave if promised ice cream.  The dog recognizes the drive through and the girls who work the drive through recognize her.  I love this story and can picture the dog’s excitement as she is presented with her “treat” and gets brain freeze shortly thereafter.  Wouldn’t it be great if Baskin-Robbins included a menu item specifically for dogs?  I have actually heard of one of our local frozen treat shops doing such a thing.

It makes sense for brands to cater to dogs and their owners: there are between 40-50 million dog owners in the United States.  Ad Age is thinking the same thing:

“The pet market, I don’t need to tell you, is huge. Pet lovers will lavish more than $43 billion on their animal companions this year. Such devotion leads me to believe that non-pet marketers who can figure out a way to tap into all that pampering (The Wall Street Journal reported that formerly “bare bones” kennels have transformed themselves into posh daycare services that offer doggie massages and other amenities) will earn the undying loyalty of pet owners.”

The article goes on to suggest that fast food restaurants, like McDonald’s should offer “doggie meals”:

“McDonald’s already offers the Happy Meal for kids, so why not bring out the Doggie Meal for dogs (or, as Merrilee suggested, the Yappy Meal)? It would consist of a small water bottle, a plastic bowl, a snack portion of dog food (or a meal portion if you’re on a long trip) plus a stuffed toy with the McDonald’s logo. And if the McDog idea caught on and the dog-lover market proved to be as responsive as I think would, the bigger McDonald’s outlets, those with play areas for kids, could also provide play areas for dogs.”

Brilliant.

As I am reading my latest issue of Wired, I learned the name of condition that I was already familiar with:

Homophily - the human tendency to seek out information that supports preexisting assumptions.

And, according to Wired, the internet “magnifies this echo-chamber effect.”  So, whether your beliefs are right or wrong, you can find a web resource that supports your beliefs and validates whatever argument you are having.

Makes sense.  This “condition” aligns with “niching” trend that is facilitated by the internet.  With a sense of individualism, people are making choices based on their own needs rather than following the masses around them.  To quote the book Microtrends,

“No matter how offbeat their choices, they can now find 100,000 people or more who share their taste for deep fried yak on a stick.

…the Internet has made it so easy to link people together.  In the past, it was almost impossible to market to small groups who were spread around the county. Now it’s a virtual piece of cake to find 1 million people who want to try your grapefruit diet, or who can’t get their kids to sleep at night.

With the rise in freedom of choice has come a rise in individuality.  And with the rise of individuality has come a rise in the power of choice.  The more choices people have, the more they segregate themselves into smaller and smaller niches in society.”

As marketers, this trend presents both a challenge and an opportunity.  The challenge is reaching broad audiences with our messages.  But the opportunity is that our dollars can be more efficiently spent targeting just those consumers likely to connect with our messages.

An agency created the Stop sign? This video is a little too close to reality on many days in an agency. As agency professionals, we should strive to prevent events like this, but sadly, that is not always possible. Regardless, the video is pretty funny. Enjoy.

Google has been ranked the most reputable company in the country - a list it wasn’t on at all four years ago. See the entire article at AdAge. Google doesn’t spend any money to advertise its brand or services. According to Robert Fronk, senior VP-senior consultant, reputation strategy, at Harris Interactive:

“The positive perception of how you treat your employees, your corporate-social-responsibility efforts, and your products and services and the amount of media that can generate probably trumps any ad spend they would ever want to make.”

However, HP, a company that has recently re-invigorated its advertising to lean more to the hip and cool:

“…made not only the biggest jump from 2006 to 2007 — 21 spots, from No. 38 to No. 17 — but also the biggest jump in the history of the study.”

Coincidence?

Focus groups feel so old-school.  Marketers have been doing them forever and the methodology really hasn’t changed all that much since that “Mad Men” era.   With the crazy amounts of consumer-generated media available to marketers, it is odd that we would even bother convene focus groups to tell us what consumers think about the brands we represent: people are telling us–and the world–without our asking.  It seems that some companies are latching on to this new media better than others and using blog communities to gather relevant insights.  As reported in AdWeek:

“Now firms with expertise ranging from research and word of mouth to digital media are setting up closed communities for clients to tap into the nuances, the spontaneity and the language of consumers engaging in a leisurely change, a different dynamic to one where they sit face-to-face in a focus group for a prescribed period of time.  Some of the initiatives focus on a specific topic for a couple of weeks; others create a longer, ongoing conversation.

“‘…when you are a running a qualitative blog: You have people for 10 to 15 days, which is a huge  amount of time for them to think about their answers and to challenge your own questions, which makes a big difference in results.  What people say when they talk together is more interesting than what they say when they talk to us.  What they say peer to peer is more sincere and sometimes very intimate.”

“She’s married, well-educated, trendy and environmentally conscientious.  She works full time, is likely sleep deprived and feels that time is her most precious commodity.  Meet today’s 30-something woman.”  - Advertising Age.  The article goes on to say that women in their 30s don’t fit as easily into marketing buckets a baby boomers or male 18-35:

“Sure, they get profiled as mothers or career women, as health statistics or dating singles, but not often just as women of a 30ish age.”

Key findings from a Marie Claire survey reported in the article:

• More than half named environmental issues such as global warming and pollution as concerns.
• The relative youth of the 30-something woman allows her to be more casual about health issues, but that doesn’t mean they’re not on her mind.  Balance the health push with the realistic acknowledgment of everyday life and slip-ups for a more empathetic brand image.
• Today’s career woman doesn’t leave her business acumen at her desk.  She researches and shops products before spending any money.
• They are most concerned with their family and their own emotional health–in that order.

BMW, already known for being on the forefront of new media opportunities–evident by their introduction of BMW Films several years ago–is again proving itself to be a brand that can differentiate itself through digital media, with the launch of a campaign for the new 1-Series. Because the new vehicle is targeted at younger audience, BMW smartly chose to spend almost half their marketing budget online.

Reported in the NY Times:

“Almost half the spending for the campaign, estimated at $15 million to $25 million, is being devoted to online media. By comparison, executives at BMW of North America say, Internet ad spending for other models ranges from 1 percent to 15 percent of the total ad budgets.

“The online elements of the 1-Series campaign include letting members of Facebook…design virtual cars and send them to Facebook friends; buying dominant positions, known as take-overs, on the home pages of msn.com and yahoo.com; posting video clips on YouTube; and developing a microsite devoted to the 1-Series (bmwusa.com/new1).

“The campaign is indicative of efforts by mainstream marketers to alter their media mixes as consumers change their media habits. A recent survey by PQ Media projected that by 2012, advertisers will increase spending by 82 percent from 2008 in areas like search-engine marketing, online video and e-mail messages.”

However, while it seems like I would be in the target market (identified as 20-somethings and 30-somethings) for this new car, I can’t find the Facebook app or the YouTube videos. And, the microsite is hardly a microsite. It looks like any other car website where you can customize and price your vehicle. Am I missing something here? Someone, please tell me.

Well, maybe I will be able to find the traditional ads, which seem pretty cool too:

“There are some unconventional approaches for the traditional media, too. Three magazines — City, Dwell and Paste — are printing pure-white covers that are glued over the actual front covers of the issues; there are ads for the 1-Series on the other sides of the extra covers.

“And magazines like City and AutoWeek are running tiny ads for the 1-Series with numerical themes at the bottom of editorial pages, which double as page-number identifications.

“For example, there is an itsy-bitsy white car on page 26 of the April issue of the magazine City next to this sentence: ‘26: number of bones in right foot you’ll use to crush the gas pedal on the all-new BMW 1-Series.’

“At the bottom of page 60, there is a miniature red car and this sentence: ‘60: m.p.h. you can reach in 5.1 seconds with the all-new BMW 135i coupe.’