Monday, September 15

SocialAd08 - Branded Experiences on Social Networks

Branded Experiences on Social Networks

Ian Schafer - Deep Focus, Deborah Korb - JP Morgan, Scott Monty - Ford, Don Steele - MTV

DS: spends over $500K on Facebook, MySpace, blogads
DK: brand client marketing - talent acquistion - teaching IBankers to use facebook
SM: was in ad industry - outlier - in the corporate communications dept

IS to SM: conversation in social media - wavers btwn the conversation itself (how can as a brand I inject into the conversation) and ad spend.  What is the distinction being drawn btween what you communicate and what you are advertising.
SM: most marketers are thinking about campaigns - now it is about long-term engagement.  Uses the model of a cocktail party - burst in: is it impressions or asting impressions.  You need to get involved in the lives.  Paul Wolff - "Brand is not my friend" - you need to be creative about it.

IS to group: is this about "buying love" - usually about emotional engagement.  
DK: it is about accessing the students and get them to join the community - stay there, engage - we want specific people to join.  Need to create barriers
SM: cost per acquisition metric.  Use the metric to see how people are using it - determine the lifetime value.  We are "buying friends".  Targeting shows to get other people.  Asking agencies to tell us how much it will cost to get 10K friends (how do you calculate this?)
Online - able to tell people what the cost per acquisition is from online media.

IS: it is about the relationship we are after.  What tactics do you see that increase yield?
DK: using Facebook for what it is - thinking differently than a simple website.  Do not always go with idea #1 - there are other ways of engagement.  Takes a long time (sales cycle) to complete the engagement.

IS: in the Boardroom, spend shifts occur.  What is it to push decision-makers to go with social media?
DK: show the impact over other traditional media.  Brings up the past (10-15ys ago, thinking about email and the impact).

IS: is it a destination or be in the social network (table) or be in the flow?
SM: it is a hybrid.  Microsites will never truly go away.  Information and content wants to be free - out of the confines of the microsite.  They want to share it across the world.  Can not force people into our sites - at least give them widgets, embeddable content, make it distributable - allow for the freedom.
DS: shift in MTV Networks - there was a garden they were going to build - now trying to show them how to be elsewhere.  [Are they connecting all of the apps/connections/touchpoints together?]  When you see 3M impressions on Sarah Palin and 1M comes from outside Comedy Central - then the story makes itself.

IS: speed of development/engagement
DS: we have never had a comment like "This is really stupid".

IS: sponsorship
DK: sponsorship is not right all the time - we do want some level of control
SM: value of sponsorship - conveys information that we want - that is how we determine sponsorship.  We do not sponsor random apps.  There are a variety of ways to go.  Biggest challenge is resources.
DS: we try to do all three (sponsorshp, ads and new apps).

IS: managing your brand in fB or myspace - any lessons?
DK: fB from a brand experience was right for our campaign (college students) - it fit our brand better
DS: myspace is a tremendous home for UGC - a lot of success there.  Comedians are living there - fan list - tours.  Watching what MySpace is doing there - it makes sense to live there.  Test in other networks - most networks like Comedy Central adveritsing in their networks.
SM: no one has been negative about Ford being in the networks - as long as it is relevant. Tons of enthusiasts clubs - own hosted communities - arms around all of it is challenging.

IS: mobile (for a second) - mobile social networking / LBS social networking - loopt, whirl on iPhone.  facebook apps, myspace apps - are you looking at it?
DS: noticing that people are beginning to capturing content on the go - a lot of the comments are coming from mobile.
SM: Ford was official myspace mobile sponsor - aided/unaided awareness - uplift on mpobile portals.  


1 comment:

rob said...

I can tell these are your notes from the conference - u make no attempt to create linear thoughts beyond a loose assemblage of points.

To respond to your one point,
We are "buying friends". Targeting shows to get other people. Asking agencies to tell us how much it will cost to get 10K friends (how do you calculate this?)

I am a big proponent of Michael Cayley's SCVA or Social Capital Value Add which is a new management method designed to link the pioneering intellectual enterprises of social capital and social network analysis to value based management.