A message to brands on Facebook, it takes heart

I recently came across this article, Advertisers Face Hurdles on Social Networking Sites, written by Randall Stross in the New York Times. In the article Mr. Stross focuses on Procter & Gamble’s foray into advertising and brand building in social networks, specifically Facebook. From reading the article, highlighting P&G’s successes or lack thereof, you would have to agree with the conclusion that advertising on social networks is, as the article posits, ‘stillborn.’ Hurdles certainly do exist for brands on social networks and they come in the form of savvy audiences that easily ignore banner advertising and the simple truth that social network users are there to connect with friends, not brands.

I don’t think it is impossible for brands to connect with consumers on Facebook, although banner ads may not be the best way. The question that seems to determine success is, where does the brand exist in the consumer conscious already? P&G’s Facebook page for Crest Whitestrips, presumably the company’s most successful, has less than 10,000 fans. Only 10,000 fans, even after incorporating free movie screenings, sponsored concerts and contests with product giveaways, not exactly a shining example. Another P&G brand, Tide, has even lower popularity with only 640 fans. These are powerhouse brands, with amazing amounts of recognition, so why can’t they get more fans? As I see it, the problem is that these are rational/commodity brands. They exist in the head, not the heart. Being a “fan” or friend with Tide, to me, is a little like being a friend with Exxon or salt. Sure, gas makes my car go and salt adds flavor to my food, but there isn’t a particularly strong emotional reaction to either (at least not a positive one anyway).

On the other hand, there are a few brands that already have a strong emotional connection with consumers and are using Facebook as one channel to engage them. For example, Product(RED) has over 100,000 fans, Skittles has over 330,000 and Victoria’s Secret PINK has a whopping 800,000. These brands aim for the consumer’s heart, through various appeals, but always focus on elevating above a product/rational benefit to an emotional one. Perhaps these emotional brands have permission for a deeper place to play in consumers’ lives, but let’s not kid ourselves. Brands will never be as important in the lives of consumers’ as their friends or family, but it seems that if your brand occupies a tiny place in their heart it can help foster a social connection.

UPDATE: Seth Godin takes a decidedly different take.

Oh Boy Obama!

Oh Boy Obama is a site that crowd sources political campaign ideas. The thinking goes that this will quickly separate the wheat from the chaff and all the good ideas will bubble up to the surface. Since anyone can participate there will likely be a bunch of ideas. As a great professor, Mark Fenske, once told me quantity will breed quality. Thanks to that I have no doubt that there will be good ideas on the site. What I am skeptical of is whether the good ideas will be the ones that rise to the top? In all likelihood it will be the popular ideas, not necessarily the good ones that come up. This technique works well if you are selling a product since a popular product idea would likely translate to sales. However, I haven’t seen companies crowd sourcing advertising strategies. Just because a strategic idea is popular doesn’t mean it will be effective at accomplishing its goals. On the other hand, if Obama had wanted to crowd source his selection for, VP that would have been a better option that would have likely netted a greater amount of followers…Hillary anyone???

Continuing into the Ether

Photo nicked from here, many thanks.

This is a quick update to a couple previous posts on the Internet becoming a platform. Along with the introduction of the 3G iPhone, Apple also announced a new service, MobileME, at the WWDC. Through me.com (wonder how much that cost?) subscribers will have access to enterprise level PUSH calendar, PUSH email and PUSH contacts along with photo sharing and file storage. Beyond just simple storage online Apple has used AJAX to create online applications. To show this trend will continue here is a quote from the MobileMe website:

Access and manage your email, contacts, calendar, photos and files at me.com. All with amazing applications that are so feature-rich and easy to use, you may end up preferring them to your regular desktop applications.

Adobe

In addition to Photoshop Express, Adobe also recently launched an online version of Acrobat.

Great minds think alike

Tim O’Reilly, from O’Reilly Media opens the web 2.0 conference speaking about cloud computing, and the internet as the new platform. I touched on some of these topics in a post I wrote earlier (although Tim is much more of an authority than I am). Tim does a great job of explaining how all this is working, and even highlights some companies that are taking advantage today. What we, as brand planners, need to look at is if we can provide greater utility for our customers, how should we be doing it, and what meaning can we convey as we do?

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by Web2Expo with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license.

Entering the Ether

Photo nicked from here, many thanks.

I just finished reading this article about Amazon’s move to offer outsourced computing services (online storage, infrastructure computing services and even real-world fulfillment services) all on a pay for what you use model.

For laymen like me, what this means is that instead of needing tens- or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to get an Internet startup off the ground you could start by uploading your code to a server for 10 cents/hour and storing your files for 15 cents/gigabyte/month. The best part is it is completely scalable, so as your project takes off, it costs you more (you should be making more money, too) and Amazon makes more money. This gives web start-ups a chance to get started without sacrificing large chunks of their companies to venture capitalists, and tying their capital up in computing power that will quickly become outdated. On the other hand it gives Amazon a way to sell computing power and infrastructure services, to a vast array of start-ups and when one takes-off both parties win. For instance, as the article says, one heavy user is spending five-figures/week on Amazon Web Services.

This, to me, is just another example of our computing power moving into the ether. Where historically we have needed to buy software (ensure it will run on our machines) then store any data we created on that same machine, where it could only be accessed there unless physically being transferred to another machine. Now that game is changing, where my computer used to be everything it is now transitioning to be an access point to connect me with my data and applications that I have strewn about the Internet. This may sound a little odd, but should benefit from the clarity of a few examples.

Banking

Online financial management tools are so prevalent they would be easy to overlook. If you think about it though, none of the data you create and work with there is stored on your computer, allowing you to access it from anywhere, yet it still offers powerful applications. For instance you can check you balance, transfer money from one account to another and even set up recurring bill payments just by moving numbers around in the ether. Beyond just managing finances you can also use these tools to build wealth, buy and selling stocks via a portfolio manager. (Bonus points if you use your profits to acquire the services of a clown, which you will undoubtedly, underestimate the creepiness of, as the E-trade commercial suggests.)

Google Docs

If you haven’t seen or heard about Google Docs, check out the video. You can upload your documents, (Word, PowerPoint of Excel) and work on them collaboratively with a select group. More importantly though, you can also create the documents online, without needed a word processing, spreadsheet or slide creation program. Essentially you could work within a more collaborative existence without ever needing to purchase Microsoft Office of for that matter a computer, just so long as you have access to one and a Google account.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Typical Word, Excel and PowerPoint junkies like myself aren’t the only ones that can benefit from the shift to purely online access point applications. This trend is showing up in the world of the pixel pushers as well. Adobe’s Photoshop Express is being beta tested currently and allows users to upload photos and utilize a limited set of tools typically only available to those who have purchased the program and loaded it on their own computer.

There are other examples and I expect to continue to see many more. Another proof point that this trend is starting to take hold exists with the machines themselves. If all the computing power, data storage and applications now exist in the ether then what will we need? Plain and simple, all you really need then is Access. Just enough computing power to get you connected and enough storage to cache the sties you visit. Lo and behold, it appears Steve Jobs sees the trend coming and has given us the MacBook Air (the name alone says a lot).

Photo nicked from here, many thanks.

This computer isn’t as fast, and doesn’t contain the massive storage capabilities of some of Apple’s other laptops. What it lacks in brute force, it makes up for in compact size and lightweight portability. I mean, this computer doesn’t even have a CD-ROM, and instead allows users to access cd-drives from other computers – you guessed it – though the ether.

These are just a few examples and there will likely be more with increased effort and technological advances. Hooking everyone up to a fiber optic connection wouldn’t hurt either.