Is Brand Rating by Mega-Influencer A Great Opportunity for New Brand to Acquire Customers?

On March 2nd, Tmall introduced “Scoring Qi” where Jiaqi Li, a famous mega-influencer in live-stream e-commerce, scores each product of each brand. Meanwhile, Jiaqi was also named as Chief Discovery Officer of Tmall Treasure’s new brand.

This reminds me of the Michelin restaurant scoring system, which further brings prestige and wealth to these restaurants. Like many influencers, they test and recommend popular products in their channels, further helping these products attract more customers. As live-stream e-commerce became popular and mature, influencers, like Jiaqi Li, can test and recommend a lot of products from all over the world in a few hours of live broadcast under the lower production cost. After acquiring trust by recommending popular products, Jiaqi started reviewing products of new brands.

He knows a lot about customer preference and product advantages and will make use of the methods, like lowering key competitors’ brand images, emphasizing the importance of certain criteria this new brand performs well and introducing new decision criteria, to persuade customers and set off a trend. Therefore, many new brands invited Jiaqi Li to be Chief Recommendation Officer. Huaxizi is the most famous example. In cooperation with Jiaqi Li, it chose to focus on Chinese culture that was scarce on the market and concentrated on polishing high-quality products based on Jiaqi’s recommendation and finally became the top-selling category on Tmall.

In order to expand the current market and attract the customers who have no time to see live video, Tmall introduced “Scoring Qi” so that these customers can take Jiaqi Li’s recommendations without joining live video.

This sounds like a great idea for new brand to acquire customers, but it relies much on the prestige and taste of Jiaqi and his team. Although Jiaqi knows a lot about women’s preferences, different women still have slightly different preferences. It is difficult to rely on Jiaqi alone to develop a mature scoring system endorsed by everyone. Therefore, it would be better to see that more different influencers in different areas are also included into brand rating system and gradually improve the scoring system.

Win Social Media Marketing Competition

There is an old saying that to know one’s own strength and the enemy’s is the sure way to victory. In terms of business competition on social media marketing, this also works. For many startups, the social media strategy may not be mature. So the best approach is learning from what the competitors do well and avoiding what they do wrong.

We can start checking YouTube Tags for competitors, cause there are millions of YouTube videos related, but the essence is the tags. This can definitely help you figure out the competitors’ keywords and important features. Also, with so many channels to choose from, we can pick the one based on What’s Best Per Topic. And we may even create social channel matrix info graphics that show which service is the most popular for that particular topic in terms of hits, shares, likes or any other rubric.


http://www.business2community.com/social-media/learn-overtake-competitors-social-media-marketing-01385534#wk7qOkhaH5bQcwq3.97

Retailers' Digital Initiatives to prepare for the Holidays

With the holidays approaching, retail brands have reached its annual climax in unleashing marketing creativity. Given the growing popularity of online and mobile platform, brands like Sephora and Net-A-Porter have invested heavily on digital this year to forge an omni-channel shopping experience.

Sephora, the subsidiary brand of LVMH, has rolled out its first Flash Boutique in Paris, which served to ramp up its consumer experience through a mobile-connected experience. Consumers will be able to shop from a digital catalogue featuring more than 14,000 items from approximately 150 beauty markets in addition to its usual makeup collections. Should shoppers unable to locate certain products, they could virtually add the merchandise to their digital baskets that enable them to pick up the desired cosmetics from Sephora in the future.

In addition to digitalize its product catalogue, Sephora has opted to experiment its digital perfume testers, allowing shoppers to pick up a Communication tag for the scent so that they could scan it on a nearby screen to smell the fragrance and explore more about the product. Of course, if they are interested in purchasing the fragrance, they could simply add it to their digital basket.

Moreover, the Flash Boutique offers a selfie mirror to allow consumers snap photos whilst trying on new items. Sephora even offers customers the opportunity to win a 1,000 Euro gift card should they disperse their selfies across social media with appointed hashtags.

Net-A-Porter, the British online retailer, made use of Sky’s Adsmart platform to target ads at viewers based on a number of demographic factors so that different consumers will see different versions of its video campaigns. For example, for its most recent “All For You” advertisement, viewers who prefer to watch long and HD videos on YouTube would be shown the long version that delineates the retailer’s stellar service and transparency. On the other hand, should users demonstrate a viewing preference for short and catchy ads, the short 30-second version would appear.

Net-A-Porter has previously implemented multiple mobile initiatives this year. The social media app it launched in April – The Net Set, is now available for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The app enables designers, brands, fashion personalities and consumers to interact with each other real-time, sharing inspirations and their own sense of style in a two-way dialogue. Consumers will also be able to scroll through a feed of trending fashion items from across the world, give friends shopping advice, share images, interact with style icons, and view personalized “love lists”.

According to the 2015 GPShopper Holiday Mobile Shopping survey, 35 percent of consumers plan to create shopping lists and 24 percent intend to check product inventory from their phones. Pinterest has upgraded Product Pins so that they allow retailers to automatically update their merchandise inventory information through their product posts. Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr have planned to implement similar initiatives such as collaborating with fashion bloggers to make social media channels the forefront of fashion enthusiasts’ discussions.

Given the current social media trend, brands should perhaps learn from Sephora and Net-A-Porter, and to synthesize digital and Brick-and-Mortar shopping experience by allowing greater transparency of their product inventory and pricing information, creating target contents for different customer segments, and fostering long-term customer relationships through interacting more with followers.


Links:

http://www.luxurydaily.com/sephora-blends-mobile-with-bricks-and-mortar-for-first-connected-boutique/

http://www.luxurydaily.com/net-a-porter-mr-porter-sway-holiday-shoppers-in-new-campaign/

http://www.luxurydaily.com/checking-product-inventory-goes-mobile-this-         holiday-season-report/

The Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2016

While I agree with most of the trends below, some of them, like in the moment updates and buy buttons, may still be limited to niche segment customers. I have also seen an article that articulates negative aspects of buy buttons.

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The Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2016

Social media marketing has always been a peculiar animal. Since its early days, where platforms were finicky and critics insisted that social marketing was not a viable marketing strategy, we’re now witnesses to an era with rock-solid platforms, useful advertising options, and plenty of free opportunities to make our content public.

Still, the world of social media changes quickly, with dozens of new platforms arriving each year and most existing companies scrambling to stay ahead of the game with new features and innovations. If history and some recently emerging trends are any indication, 2016 will be a host for a variety of new trends and changes in the social scene.

1. In-the-moment updates will dominate. Social media is already “in-the-moment” by nature, but there are some posts that are more “in-the-moment” than others. For example, take Periscope, which was recently acquired by Twitter—it allows users to give a live video broadcast of some stretch of their lives. Compare that to simply taking a video and posting it later—Periscope users collectively watch 40 years of live video each and every day. Instagram and Snapchat also support on-the-go, in-the-moment updates as opposed to late-game retrospectives, and could collectively herald in a new era of immediacy in social media. If it catches on, you can forget about scheduling all your company’s social media posts in advance.

2. Buy buttons will take over. Facebook and Pinterest are just two of the platforms that gained attention this year by introducing new “buy” features for their advertisers and users. Mobile users of Facebook and Pinterest who see a product they like in a sponsored post can now use one click to purchase it, without ever leaving the app. Instagram isn’t far behind on the trend, and I imagine more social platforms will follow. By the end of 2016, most major social media brands will feature some kind of buy button naturally as an element of their advertising campaigns.

3. In-app functionality will diversify and spread.Facebook is the king of adding new functionality. In the past year, they’ve introduced Instant Articles (a new form of publishing), an in-post search engine (to find articles you’re referencing), and videos that play instantly when scrolling. Now, they’re developing their own digital assistant (though it’s technically a digital/human hybrid assistant). Other platforms are working similarly, with Twitter, Instagram, and others trying to expand their platforms to a similar degree, preventing users from ever leaving the app. Expect this trend to continue well into 2016, giving marketers ever more opportunities to engage with their audiences on one platform.

4. New publication options will be available.

Facebook’s Instant Articles are only the beginning. Publishers on board with the program can publish full-length articles to Facebook users, without having to link to an external source. As social platforms become more competitive and more aggressive about keeping users in-app for as long as possible, I imagine they’ll dream up even more sophisticated forms of publishing for businesses and organizations. Twitter’s upcoming Project Lightning puts publication in the hands of its users, but it still represents a dynamic way to present material to the public.

5. User privacy concerns will hit an all-time high.

After another year full of high-profile security breaches (like the one with Ashley Madison), user concerns over privacy are going to hit an all-time high. Snapchat’s explosive popularity is, in part, due to user demand for a more private, secure method of communication and engagement. Facebook is introducing more privacy awareness tools for its users, and it’s smart to do so, because as tension continues to rise, only platforms which offer a degree of privacy and security will continue to thrive. For advertisers, that might mean backing off of sometimes-intrusive forms of advertising.

6. Competition for organic visibility will increase.

Finally, as the ROI of social media marketing becomes more established and social marketing itself becomes more accessible for a wider range of businesses, there will be a greater level of competition for organic visibility. Already,Facebook is throttling organic visibility to force people to buy advertising, and as more businesses emerge in the market, that throttle will only increase, and among more social media channels. The cost of advertising, too, is set to rise over the course of the next year.

7. Fewer small platforms will emerge. 

For the last several years, we’ve seen at least a few dozen new social media platforms rise up and either blink out of existence just as quickly or settle in as a middle-of-the-road platform that never gets more attention but never really dies out. This past year, the trend has changed—platforms have tended to skyrocket in popularity to stand on their own, get enough attention to be acquired by one of the big three (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), or die a quick death. In 2016, I expect we’ll see fewer small platforms as the big players race to gobble up the promising small fry, meaning you’ll have to worry about fewer up-and-coming opportunities.

I anticipate these trends will permeate the landscape of social media marketing, across multiple platforms and of course many audiences. Already, you can see platforms like Facebook and Twitter rushing toward these achievements at an alarming pace, but it’s the companies who adapt to these changes who stand to benefit the most. Prepare for these changes and beat your competition to the punch, and you’ll be rewarded with more visibility and a greater reputation.

Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2015/09/28/the-top-7-social-media-marketing-trends-that-will-dominate-2016/

Mobile Live Streaming

While on a Chazen trip to Israel, we met with a venture capital firm who spoke to us for an hour about his experience working in Tel Aviv. He told us that he was holding his cell phone up (recording us) because he wanted to live stream his talk using Meerkat. 

Meerkat is a mobile app that enables users to do live video streaming through their mobile device. Once signed up, Meerkat users have the option of connecting their Facebook and Twitter accounts, and stream directly to their followers as soon as they go live. The app had launched a mere week before our trip so the excitement was still new and the concept was even newer to me. 

Since my return from Israel, I have seen Meerkat and Periscope change the way we use social media but also noticed the way marketers have started to look at these channels along with channels like snap chat to connect with their customers on a more personal level. One of the first few companies to use Periscope was Nestle. Purina ONE Cat (a Nestle brand) tried its hand at Periscope with “ONE Cat Camp,” where the marketing team live-streamed lessons on pet wellness and pet care. http://www.dmnews.com/mobile-marketing/purina-one-makes-out-like-a-fat-cat-with-live-streaming/article/433400/

TD Canada Trust goes viral

Last year, TD Canada Trust successfully conducted a Thank You campaign with its customers. During the campaign, employees handed out 20,000 envelopes containing $20 bills, utilized ATMs ("Automated Thanking Machines") to distribute gifts, trips and thanks to a lot more customers, and finally called customers in order to inform them of a direct deposit into their account. In all, a total of 30,000 customers were given gifts as part of the campaign.

For the bank, the campaign gave them great press that supported the overall brand very effectively. Coming out of the campaign was a youtube video that within a week, the video had more than 2 million views and was shared more than 200,000. Additionally, it made it onto a number of major publications (the Today show and Forbes magazine to name a few). At this point, the youtube video has now had 20 million views.

When you conduct the math - 30,000*$20 = $600,000. You assume that about 200 of the gifts were more substantial (a trip to Disney, Blue Jays package, flowers) at an average of $1,000 a piece = $200,000. Finally, assume that production of everything including the Automated Thanking Machines was another $200,000 and everything was done for less than $1 million. Coming out of it, they got so many positive mentions in news shows, 200 million views on youtube, and very strong brand messaging around the brand values. Clearly, this was a very effective social media campaign.

The youtube video can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUkN7g_bEAI

 And the Forbes article that summarizes key stats can be found here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stanphelps/2014/07/30/td-bank-turns-atms-into-an-automated-thanking-machines/

Social Media Is Not PR

If you've been using your social media platforms as a way to broadcast your messages, it's not going anywhere but lost amid a plethora of contents that a viewer sees every day.

You must create a context; conduct and execute a strategy to start a conversation with your viewers. Create a value that will endure in the consumer's mind that he/she will want to follow you, like your posts, share them, and become your loyal consumer for -- who knows -- a lifetime. *marketer's dreamy sigh*

"I LOVE THAT BRAND" is what you want to hear; qualitative measurement of success right there folks.

So how do you do that? Create a story and narrate it creatively through your social media.

Yes, creativity is key. Don't just publish a picture of your product; get to the consumer's end goal of your product and trace back.

Example:

If you're an art museum, it's not effective to publish pictures of your artworks everyday. People care less about static images; they simply see too many.

Alternative strategy: do something like what these guys are doing - Dave Krugman and Zach Glassman. 

Krugman randomly dresses up and goes to the Met after its hours, takes some baroque pictures and publishes them. Zach is a wonderlust who takes astonishing yet enigmatic photographs around the world.

We get curious. We want to know more about their story and what places they're going to. So Krugman has 155k followers on his Instagram, while Glassman has 199k on his. 

Social media posts that tell people what to do (i.e. "Exhibition opens this Friday! Come check it out!") won't do the trick anymore. Compel your audience.

2015 is no longer the year when you tweet, people will buy. Social media is not a PR means; it's a marketing strategy. Think creatively and curate your story. 

 

Zach Glassman @zachspassport

Dave Krugman @dave.krugman

Social Media: 15 Ways You’re Doing It Wrong

Here is an article on common mistakes made during social media marketing.  If done correctly, social media marketing can be a big game changer and incredibly effective way to attract the attention of target audience. 

The list is as follows:

1. You Don’t Have a Plan
2. You’re Working Alone
3. You’re Not a Writer
4. You’re Spread Too Thin
5. You’re a One-Trick Pony
6. You’re Not Posting in Real-Time
7. You’re Not Being Yourself
8. You’re Not Listening
9. You’re Erratic
10. You’re Careless
11. You’re No Fun
12. You’re as Bland as Milk Toast
13. You’re Not Sharing Any Pictures
14. You’re Not Paying to Play
15. You’re Ignoring the Numbers

While most of the examples are quite obvious and also useful outside of social media marketing, I did find #7 to be a helpful suggestion.  I agree that transparency and authenticity are not an option on social media.  Win friends and influence people with refreshing candor and put a face on your brand every step of the way.  That's how a digital marketing effort can truly connect with the users.

Full article here:

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2396567/social-media-15-ways-you-re-doing-it-wrong

U.S. Bank Digital Marketing with Kittens, Puppies, and Babies

A really great article came out on Forbes today written by Jason Bloomberg.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2015/02/20/building-trust-with-digital-marketing-at-u-s-bank/

The article mainly focuses on the U.S. Bank's recent digital marketing efforts led by Kelly Colbert, the company's VP of Social Media.

My main takeaway was Colbert's quote: "Digital used to mean just an  additional touchpoint. Now it's a unique experience displayed on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, etc."

To understand the belief system of the millennials ("the future of the business" says Colbert), they are experimenting with digital marketing to build a "trust relationship" associated with content marketing and emotional connection, often incorporating visual aids of kittens, puppies, and babies.

This relates to my blog post about Cookie Monster visiting art museums and how that was a great digital marketing initiative for MoMA.

It's that image-using, story-telling, common-ground-establishing content that shakes the core and pulls in the consumers. Keep it direct and simple, and you will be just fine.

Kim Kardashian, who?

Forget about Kim, it’s all about Kendall Jenner now. For those of you who don’t know, Kendall is Kim K’s half-sister (and if you don’t know Kim Kardashian, that’s a problem). Kendall is a model – and currently the #1 model on social media. And yes, she’s only 19. Kendall appeared on runways in New York, Paris, and Milan and is the subject of a 13-page spread in the December issue of Vogue.

Well, Estee Lauder wants in on Kendall’s 30 MILLION followers on social media. The company hired Kendall to represent its flagship cosmetics brand worldwide. She’ll be in digital, TV, and print advertising campaigns and will also create social media content for Estee. Terms of her contract weren't disclosed, but I bet Estee is paying a lofty amount.

Some of Estee’s brands include Clinique, Origins, Bobbi Brown, and Prescriptives. Kendall will be the face for Estee’s first and oldest makeup and skin-care line, called Estee Lauder. Former spokeswomen for the Estee Lauder brand have included Elizabeth Hurley and Gwyneth Paltrow.

"Although perhaps not a 'prestige' move, the company needs to attract a younger audience," said Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Ali Dibadj. "Social media broadly, and this signing in particular, may be a step in the right direction for some of its brands."

Facebook Reduces "Overly Promotional" News Feed Posts

Facebook has announced that starting January 2015, it would begin decreasing the number of brands’ organic, or unpaid, posts that it considers “overly promotional” on the social network’s News Feed.  The change wouldn't affect entire brands’ posts, only the ones that fit a certain criteria. According to the social networking website, surveyed users determined that the following characteristics of posts were deemed too promotional:

1. Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app
2. Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context
3. Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads

Examples of these posts include:

A Facebook spokeswoman explained that the company’s algorithm will assess the promotional posts with the same filters it puts on ads.  Facebook will check how many people will engage or hide the ad to determine whether to allow these posts on people’s news feeds. This change is the latest move by Facebook to maintain quality control on the best content that is projected on News Feeds so that users will still continue to check the social network.

The number of advertisements that appear on a News Feed will not decrease, but the content will be more relevant to each individual’s tastes.  With this organic content change, Facebook is intelligently paving the way for increased advertising spending on the platform to compensate for the decrease in unpaid posts. By increasing advertising demand but not space, marketers could see the price of Facebook ads rise in the future, driving future profits for the company.

Source: http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-cuts-brands-organic-reach/295881/
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/11/news-feed-fyi-reducing-overly-promotional-page-posts-in-news-feed/

Can I get paid to post on Insta, too?!

A recent article in AdAge caught my attention due to its linkage with our last class on Thrillist. We talked about the challenges of combining e-commerce with editorial content, and now we’re starting to see publishers putting sponsored content on Instagram and Snapchat, and also paying other influencers to feature their products on social media.

The article first talks about Wired Magazine and Victorinox. A recent ad campaign the magazine was doing with Victorinox was done in partnership with Bethany Olson and Cory Staudacher, a recently engaged couple known for chronicling their adventures on Instagram . “What you're seeing is publishers embracing the broader media ecosystem and finding ways to create new and innovative ways to capture people's attention and retain it over time," said Adam Shlachter, chief investment officer at DigitasLBi.

Victorinox gave the couple clothes for their recent travels, including a trip to Victorinox's headquarters in Ibach, Switzerland. The couple posted content on their Instagram accounts, tagging the Victorinox brand. Some of these images will also appear in print ads in the December issue of Wired. In addition to the free gear, the couple was also paid for doing these posts. The program has generated more than 65,000 "likes" on Instagram and about 500 comments since its October 6^th launch.

InStyle magazine is also planning on doing something similar. The magazine will run custom ad campaigns on its main Instagram and Snapchat accounts. Beginning on December 8^th on InStyle’s Instagram feed (which has more than 671,000 followers), the magazine will share one post each day for five days highlighting a luxury accessories company's product. In addition, “Style in Snap” will be a campaign that InStyle will launch on Snapchat. This campaign will feature short videos for 20 days featuring 20 advertisers, including Jimmy Choo Fragrance, Chantecaille, Sisley and Aeffe. The magazine will then give these 20 items away as prizes. Along the same lines, Teen Vogue partnered with Keds to launch an Instagram contest where fans would post pictures of their outfits.

While I think these campaigns and contests drive engagement and allow brands to interact with publishers’ reader base, there are definitely risks similar to what we talked about in class. Some readers might be upset about the promotional nature of these posts, so publishers will have to be careful about maintaining their voice and brand image.

Facebook probably about to show advertising videos in newsfeed

Facebook recently changed its newsfeed algorithm in order to better understand which users watch videos and which users do not.

The tweak includes a new video ranking system which takes into account whether people are actually watching each video — and for how long — before deciding who else will see that video in their feed. Previously, metrics like Likes and comments were key indicators of a video's popularity, but the new measurement aims to determine exactly how captivating the video content is.

The move was likely driven by two motives. Facebook often seeks ways to surface the content people are most likely to engage with, and if users like more videos, then Facebook can provide the goods.

The other motive is Facebook's bottom line. The company is rolling out video ads to users, and the News Feed tweak will give the company a better idea of which users are most receptive to video ads. The more Facebook knows about your video watching habits, the more successful its new ad format will be. The more Facebook knows about your video watching habits, the more successful its new ad format will be.

Source: http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/06/news-feed-fyi-showing-better-videos/

Cupcake Unicorns and a little company called Coca-Cola

Being consistently ranked as one of the most valuable and recognized brands in the world is no mean feat and when your product is sold in over 200 countries worldwide, it definitely makes sense for the company to invest highly in digital media so as to capture the biggest audience with a fraction of the cost it would take to market on-ground. 

Here are some of the recent marketing campaigns by Coke. Their messaging has always revolved around “sharing” and by making their softdrink share worthy on ground, they have made their campaigns share worthy online. 

1) A video that is naturally close to my heart given my Indian roots is the Happiness without Borders Video. An uplifting Coca-Cola film shows that what unites us is stronger than what sets us apart. High-tech vending machines installed in two popular shopping malls in Lahore, Pakistan and New Delhi, India – two cities separated by only 325 miles, but seemingly worlds apart due to decades of political tension – invited consumers to put their differences aside and share a simple moment over a Coke. 

2) Coke Can lets you twist and share 

3) Share-A-Coke campaign in Britain 

4) Recently Coke came up with a clever new way for students in Colombia to make friends. With the help of Leo Burnett, they designed a bottle called “The Friendly Twist” that can only be opened with the help of another person. Apart from an interesting mental challenge, the design also helped students to socialize without them even realizing it was happening. Watch the friendly twist campus bottles video here. 

Lastly check out Coke’s new digital marketing campaign: featuring 61 websites starting from ahh.com, that are focussed on engaging teens but clearly have a wide appeal. Note: these websites are highly addictive, my favourite is the cupcake unicorn!

While these campaigns may not always lead to a purchase it definitely creates a positive impression in the mind of consumers and the next time one wants to buy a softdrink, all things being equal, you’re more likely to opt for a Coke.