Charlie Wade – Graphic Alliance Blog

Heinz meanz Money

Over the last few years a number of fashion chains have tried to position Facebook as a sales channel, with some success. Today Heinz took a step into the marketplace, by selling the first batch of it newest Tomato Ketchup through Facebook – and only through Facebook. (This equates to 3,000 bottles.) As of today anyone who ‘Likes’ the Heinz Tomato Ketchup UK profile will be able to buy the new flavour, which contains Balsamic Vinegar. The bottle costs £1.49 – Heinz are shouldering the P&P – with payment taken via a system which is embedded into Facebook. Interestingly, Facebook do not take a cut of the sales generated.

Invariably questions will be asked about what this means for the viability of Facebook to generate sales on lower value items. In response, the supermarket has taught society that convenience cannot be understated; thus it is unlikely that people will start to browse profiles, purchasing mayonnaise from one and cola from another (etc) as part of a weekly shop. However, what it does reaffirm is that Facebook remains a high-impact way to generate relatively low-budget brand or product recognition (certainly in comparison with television campaigns), which, owing to the ability to link eCommerce functionality, allows the brand to monetise consumer awareness.

Posted by: Charlie Wade on March 7, 2011
Categories: Homepage, News, Social media, eCommerce
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Glued to Your TV

Can you remember a time when you’ve emailed your thoughts to someone about a film you’ve seen; hoisted up your mobile phone at a concert so a friend can listen; or tweeted about the eviction results of your favourite reality TV show? I imagine you can. That’s because media, or more succinctly ‘entertainment media’ has always held social currency; generating conversation and chatter amongst peers and colleagues alike.

From the explosion of music sharing witnessed in the early 2000s through to the more ‘recent’ fascination with video (more than 13 million hours were uploaded onto YouTube in 2010) entertainment media has also felt digitally social; although this has not always been advantageous for the content owners. Numerous microsites, viral campaigns and Facebook profiles have tried to drive affiliation whilst hoping to monetise the relationship, with varying degrees of success. However there is a platform that aims to maximise the collusive way in which we interact with media, which could also provide an opportunity for the content owner to maximise the relationship.

GetGlue asks people to ‘check-in’ whilst watching a TV programme or film; playing a video game; listening to music or even reading a book. The action is then logged against a user’s profile, which other users can see. The more you check-in, the more the service learns about what you like and will subsequently make suggestions about media that you might like. There are also rewards ranging from digital stickers that can be linked to your profile or printed stickers that are sent to your home. True Blood (and other shows) have leveraged the rise in status-chasing – commonly found on FourSquare – by creating levels of fans from ‘Newbie’ to ‘Ultimate Truebie’; with the strength of your loyalty repaid by tiered discounts on associated products and kudos! And herein lies GetGlue’s strength: it taps into the way we consume media and allows the content owners to direct genuine fans through to associated sites to interact further, and potentially, buy. For example, the final episode of MadMen season 5 could bring with it a live promotion: “check-in during the broadcast to receive exclusive deals on seasons 1-4”. (Presumably GetGlue could garner affiliate revenue from click-throughs?).

There is also an ancillary, market research benefit for the brand owners in that they can find out useful information about the way in which their audience consumes media, such as the amount of people who check-in during a live broadcast against on-demand viewing.

GetGlue isn’t the only service in this space, with Miso, Tunerfish and Philo. Moreover, it isn’t that new. However, what sets it apart (and has put it on the map recently) is the partnerships that have been struck-up with major players in the entertainment space, such as: 20th Century FOX, Disney Theatrical, ESPN, FOX, HBO, MTV, Penguin, Random House and Sony Pictures. They even had a tie-up with the Oscars on Sunday, with some reports suggesting as many as 31,000 users checked-in! Interestingly, whilst it is a social network in itself, GetGlue has taken the decision to collude with Facebook and Twitter, allowing the user to integrate their profiles and share information across those platforms.

According to its website GetGlue has more than 900,000 users and 12 million new unique ratings and check-ins for TV shows, movies, music and books every month. Watch this space… (and check-in.)

Posted by: Charlie Wade on March 4, 2011
Categories: Homepage, Most Popular, News
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Putting a face to a claim

It is a curious paradox that the day which is traditionally dominated by the deity devoted to love and adoration should also be remembered (albeit as a footnote) for the demise of ‘LittleGossip’, the fallen angel of online interaction…

LittleGossip is, or was, the ‘social networking’ channel where users could chat anonymously about anyone and everyone. Originally developed as a virtual water-cooler, it was developed for sotto voce prattle between colleagues. Whilst it became self-evident that the intended audience – generally speaking – had neither the time nor the inclination to get involved, it didn’t take a genius to identify a likely demographic who have both commodities, namely school children. As such a number of schools started to appear, supported by playground commentary, and with it a wave of anti-bullying concerns surfaced from all quarters including ‘mumsnet.com’ and national publications such as The Daily Mail. LittleGossip responded by attempting to de-list schools, but the groundswell of interaction proved incredibly difficult to contain, with many slipping through the net.

Whilst the worst fears of the website’s detractors never truly materalised, LittleGossip was nonetheless closed yesterday accompanied by the almost Orwellian statement: “Voice without ownership means that a person’s worst side can surface.” The closure in itself is noteworthy, but of greater significance is the notion of self-regulation, which underpinned its retirement.

Throughout the meteoric rise of forum interaction witnessed in the early 2000s people tended to cloak their identity with random or unidentifiable user names. This practice allowed them to drift from conversation to conversation unrecognised, and thus arguably less accountable for their point of view. (A practice which is still evident, albeit less so, today.) However, social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn went some way to demystifying online conversations, precisely because you had to establish your connection to someone by providing information such as your real name or prior relationship before you can talk freely to them. Moreover, the recognisable nature of a person’s profile forced most users to regulate themselves, precisely because comment is easily attributable.

Significantly, the concept of accountability was also adopted by the owners of LittleGossip themselves, as it was they who took the decision to close the site. They claimed that “despite taking extensive measures to prevent malicious and unwanted comments a minority of irresponsible people have continued to abuse the site, something that we can not support”. It would be romantic to overstate this action, however it is interesting to note that the operators of a site with significant traction are prepared to pull the plug on their creation, before they lose control.

We should recognise their decision, and the wider implication that whilst comment should be encouraged, not being able to recognise a detractor feels inherently ‘anti-social’, and can create an environment which is nasty, brutish and short-lived.

Posted by: Charlie Wade on February 15, 2011
Categories: Case studies, Homepage, News, Social media
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A Little Bit of Give and Take

The previous social media post looked at the questions that often surround the relevance of social media and the impact it can have (both positive and negative) on a brand’s reputation. As it is hoped that the entry answered any lingering doubts it seemed natural to consider the equally pertinent, yet often secondary concern, namely:

How can social media be used to actively benefit a brand (or, more specifically, be monetised)?

It should be accepted that whilst there are obvious benefits behind extending a brand’s footprint across a number of platforms, there must also be an accompanying strategy to ensure on-going community engagement. Without a clear plan a brand could ask too much of its community, either by relying on them to add content, outline the brand narrative or remain loyal in the absence of a compelling reason to do so information. As such, a brand should take the time to consider who their audience are and where they are operating; once this has been identified they can consider how to develop a mutually beneficial relationship.

One recent example is that of Getty Images and Flickr.

Getty Images is a global supplier of images for both businesses and consumers. With a library of 70 million images, their success relies on having the requisite stock imagery for their clients, first-time.

Flickr is an image hosting website which allows its community of amateur and professional photographers to upload pictures and subsequently share them with their friends.

Getty Images saw an opportunity to utilise the vast number of photos uploaded onto the site and created “The Request to License”. This is an initiative whereby any community member can put forward their photography to be used by a commercial venture that is looking for stock photography. Getty realised that reward would be crucial to both the longevity of the scheme and the quality of the photos added and therefore took the business decision to remunerate photographers, with what is thought to be between £100-£160 for each image.

In a recent interview with the BBC News Douglas Alexander, Flickr’s general manager, summarised the ‘win-win’ mantra of The Request to License: “Flickr users are the eyes of the world”. “We have contributors from over 100 countries and images are coming in from every corner of the globe. This deal broadens the horizons and the global marketplace for commercial photography and gives our users the chance to make some money.”

Of course there is an obvious synergy between Flickr and Getty Images, however it should prompt you to think about what your customers are doing online that could be aligned to your company’s overall goals? Moreover, owing to the two-way stance of social media, what could you offer your community to entice them into building a mutually rewarding relationship?

Posted by: Charlie Wade on June 25, 2010
Categories: Homepage, Social media
Tags: Flickr, Getty, Social media
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Social Media: ‘Who does this?’

It is probably fair to say that questions remain in certain quarters of business and commerce about social media. Indeed, the common enquiries we field tend to focus on both the prevalence of social media and its ‘staying power’. Obviously we would tell you that those people who use one or more social media channel do so regularly. However, before you question my impartiality, I thought I would highlight some new research by the UK Online Measurement company (published on the BBC website) which shows that British web users are spending the majority of their time online – 22.7% in all – on social networks or blogs. In addition, e-mail (arguably the first form of social networking, but that’s another post…) has seen a rise of 1.2%, accounting for 7.2% of time spent overall.

Equally important is the fact that British web users now spend 65% more time online than they did three years ago, which equates to 22 hours and 15 minutes each month.

These statistics beg the question, ‘how are you communicating with your audience?’ Do you currently ask them to search for you, and then present them with content on one platform which has been published and largely left unchanged? That might be the right strategy for you, but could you be doing more?

Could you use multiple channels to interact directly with your audience, asking questions about your products and using feedback to shape future releases? Could you promote new services or ‘flash deals’? Could you answer customer service questions quickly and efficiently? Could you acquire new customers by talking to them in their environment?

When it comes to social media, maybe the most pertinent question is: ‘why don’t we do this?’

Posted by: Charlie Wade on May 21, 2010
Categories: Homepage, Social media
Tags: Social media
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First and direct – First Direct jump head first into social media waters

Despite priding themselves on conducting customer surveys offline for many years, banks have found it difficult to harness the ‘two-way’ nature of social media and actively engage with customers online. Historically this could have been a result of the stigma attached to discussing personal finances in public, but much of this has been removed by the arrival of the ‘comparison’ sites and money forums. More recently, as this has been a tough year for the banks, (irrespective of who is to blame) some have steered well clear of the social media arena, through fear of being pilloried. All, that is, save one.

Perhaps recognising that there is a natural synergy between their business model and social networking, First Direct – the internet-only bank – have tackled consumer participation head-on, creating an environment on their site for customers and non-customers to post their thoughts on the bank and its service-provision. This is unquestionably a pioneering move. Most in the financial services industry have tried to avoid this form of customer interaction owing to an ill-placed preconception in the minds of brand-owners that social media has an inherently negative angle (with people only posting when they are unhappy). By hosting a forum for discussion, crucially stating that they cannot respond, First Direct have roundly disproved this thought-process. Yes, there are negative comments, but First Direct see the value in this feedback.

Consumer admiration and customer loyalty can be difficult commodities to acquire in the financial services industry. However First Direct have taken considerable steps to achieve both (with first-rate feedback thrown-in). By directing the ‘chatter’ that takes-place on the internet and bringing it in-house, not to moderate it, but to accept that people’s buying decisions are increasingly influenced by their ‘peer group’, First Direct have taken a brave, but most-likely rewarding step. Somewhat appropriately, the move can be best summed-up by one of the existing posts: ‘I am impressed both with the innovative concept of this, and the willingness of some customers to ‘defend’ their bank against criticism. Not many brands I have experience of have achieved that.’

Fortune Favours the Brave…

Posted by: Charlie Wade on October 22, 2009
Categories: Homepage, Online marketing, Social media, eCommerce
Tags: banks and social media, first direct, online reputation, Social media
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Social Bookmarking

As Delicious (one of the most popular social bookmarking sites) explains, “the Web is a big place, full of new and interesting things”. So how do you keep track of all the great sites you discover? One answer is Social Bookmarking, a service that allows you to store all your favourite things in one place. Similar to adding a ‘favourite’ to your browser, the only difference is that this service is online which means that you can access your sites from any computer!

Each time you bookmark a site you are prompted to add a ‘tag’ that describes what it relates to; so a story about Graphic Alliance could be tagged: design, agency, webdesign, interactive, ecommerce, bespoke software, and so on.

Typically all posted bookmarks are publicly viewable by default (although you can mark specific bookmarks as private) which allows users to access sites other people have tagged. Users can also share bookmarks with their contacts. These approaches are designed to encourage easy, instant interaction with like-minded people and the sites they have been viewing.

But how does this relate to business? By adding online press-releases, position papers or blog articles as a bookmark you can share your opinion with people who are specifically searching for content that relates to a tag (or a category) that they are interested in (as opposed to relying on keyword match). This combined with the massive sharing capabilities of social bookmarking means that you can open yourself up to thousands of users.

Why not try Delicious, Digg , Reddit, or StumbleUpon to get you started?

Part of the GA Guide – where we go back to basics with tricky online terms!

Posted by: Charlie Wade on August 20, 2009
Categories: GA Guide, Social media
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Don’t be Anti-Social (Media)…

Few things today are more misunderstood than ‘Social Media’. Often (mutedly) spoken about as if it’s a new-fangled Facebook-centric phenomenon, off-limits to anyone out of their teens. But what is the truth behind it? Pretty simple really: it’s a way for you to speak to customers and prospects (and them with you) in addition to your traditional channels.

Think not of digital marketing in the same way as consumer electronics, where the CD replaced the cassette only to be bumped-off by the MP3; social media, like website-creation before it should compliment your existing customer interaction, and where possible enhance it e.g. webinars or podcasts that can reduce the impact of geography on your client engagement strategy.

Putting aside the obvious benefits associated with blogging detailed here last week, the best thing about social media is using a whole host of channels to get your brand in front of people, and crucially, allowing them to learn, interact and share experiences. It is fair to say that no one ‘outlet’ has cornered this market in the same way that Google has with search – and is unlikely to – so you can choose the site that best fits the demographic you’re targeting!

So, it’s worth asking yourself; could my brand benefit from increased exposure? If so, be a bit more social.

Posted by: Charlie Wade on August 5, 2009
Categories: Social media
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