Context Optional: Social network application development and social media strategy: Facebook Applications, Facebook Pages, Facebook Connect, and the iPhone

It was a bit strange to wake up this morning, groggy from a long day at ad:tech, to see Mobile Marketer’s subject line this morning: Branded apps are not marketing: ad:tech panelist.

At first it didn’t register that the panelist Giselle Tsirulnik was referring to was, well, me.  Given the online conversation that’s followed the session and subsequent article, I thought I’d be clearer about what I meant to say at yesterday’s session titled What Marketers Need to Know about Mobile Apps and the Mobile Web.

Early in the session Thom Kennon from Wunderman asked an interesting question:  is mobile causing more change and innovation in business model or human model?  What surprised me was the consensus of the panel, which seemed to think mobile business models were new.  I disagreed, as I see mobile having a much bigger worldwide impact on how we live our lives than how companies make money.

Take a look at the business models on yesterday’s panel, none of which are new:
•    MSNBC: makes money through advertising, same as web and TV
•    GetJar: makes money through paid placement, same as Google, supermarkets, and the Yellow Pages
•    Cielo Mobile, Zumobi, and Context Optional: make money when people pay us to build something for them

But look at the way mobile is forever changing the human model:
•    Phones are tied to people not places
•    People are reachable all the time
•    A device knows my location at all times
•    Services can be offered based on my location
•    The device is sensitive to the world around it: movement, sound, direction, and physical surroundings
•    Augmented reality adds layers of meaning to the world

For these reasons and more, it seems to me mobile innovations affect how we live our lives more than how our companies make money.

On the panel we also discussed how popular some branded apps had become, such as how often people read news on their phones and how Facebook’s mobile applications are the most often downloaded mobile apps.  Our panel was discussing the popularity of these apps in the context of marketing, and I just don’t see these applications as marketing; instead I see them as product extensions and accessibility.
•    Facebook’s app came up, as it’s one of the most popular downloaded apps from GetJar.  My opinion is that Facebook’s app is not a marketing exercise.  Facebook is an online service that connects people.  Most people access the service via Facebook.com, but really Facebook is agnostic as to which screen or device you use to access your friends.  Facebook’s popularity as a mobile download does not prove to me that branded applications are successful for marketing; it tells me that people want to stay in touch with their friends all the time.  And mobile is an extension of Facebook’s mission to keep people connected, and a key element of Facebook’s growth strategy, not a marketing program.
•    MSNBC was on the panel as well, along with Zumobi, who built their application.  The MSNBC app may be awesome, but to me it’s awesome in how news becomes accessible all the time, not for how it markets or provides branding (MSNBC shows ads, like they do on TV and on the web).  Moreover, I suspect most users download the MSNBC app because they already like watching MSNBC on TV and reading MSNBC on the web.  Realistically every news network has mobile distribution, and having a mobile application is not a marketing strategy, it’s a required product offering that more deeply engages an existing audience.

I read Mobile Marketer that morning, as I do every morning, and the contents of that morning’s newsletter were top of mind for me when Thom Kinnon asked us why we don’t see more mobile-centered campaigns.  While the panel reasoned it was because agencies are still getting their heads around mobile, and it’s therefore incumbent upon us to educate them about the advertising opportunity, it seems to me a problem of scale.  If you’re a major brand, and you read the headlines I saw in the morning, are these branded applications going to get you excited enough to launch a mobile initiative?
•    Remy Martin mobile campaign attracts 1,200 SMS opt-ins
•    Chicago’s Field Museum mobile campaign sees 7,000 interactions
These campaigns aren’t offering the kind of scale most advertisers seek, particularly for the center of a campaign.

Most successful applications from brands are extensions of products and services, not marketing vehicles.
•    Take for example Kodak, which was also featured in yesterday’s Mobile Marketer in Kodak enters mobile arena with iPhone app.  This innovative new product ties together mobile cameras and digital frames.  In the context of the panel conversation we had around innovation, this new product changes how I share pictures with loved ones (human model), but has a familiar business model (selling a product) and is not a corporate marketing program.
•    Think about other popular apps, like the ones mentioned in today’s story from amNY A big App-etite: Apple now counts 100,000 applications in its store.  The applications referenced and pictured in the article – Google Maps, Yelp, Fandango, Lonely Planet, FedEx, Urban Spoon – are all awesome apps that change how people live their lives, but none  are marketing initiatives for brands.

On the panel I mentioned REI’s Snow Report.  The application, built by Zumobi, provides valuable utility to REI’s core skiing consumer by providing them information on ski conditions.  Brilliant!  But there aren’t many of those good examples compared to all the hoopla, and that was my point.

I do think there is opportunity for brands to successfully market using mobile applications.  In fact six months ago I gave a talk at ad:tech titled Building Loyalty through Mobile Branding and Community Building.  But sometimes brands and marketers trick themselves into thinking people love to connect with brands on their phone.  It was certainly a theme at ad:tech yesterday and top of my mind from reading Mobile Marketer in the morning (Consumers want more marketing messages: Study).  I don’t believe it.  Instead I think that successful marketers will engage their audiences by connecting them with something of value.

Context Optional provided an iPhone-based conference guide for the ad:tech New York conference going on now. With the iPhone app, conference-goers can access up-to-date information on speakers, sessions, and exhibitors straight from their phones, as well as the ad:tech Twitter feed.  You can find the Applicationhere.

ABOUT AD:TECH CONFERENCES

Ad:tech conferences are THE event for digital marketing.  Don’t miss our robust conference program, tracks include a media boot camp, SMX@ad:tech, MobileMix, revenue and distribution strategies and real-world case studies.  Sessions are geared towards arming YOU with tactical value that is heavy on results.  Designed for big questions with real answers, ad:tech’s conference programs feature a wide assortment of topics and presentation styles to meet your needs.

The ad:tech Mobile Guide is provided by Context Optional, providing scalable solutions for brand marketing across social networks.  The application features a listing of sessions, by date and by track.  You can also view a list of exhibitors and sponsors.  Selecting any listing allows you to view details about the respective session, exhibitor, or sponsor.  Session listings also provide a biography for each of the speakers for that session.  Every detail screen allows you to:

* Save the session, exhibitor, or sponsor to a list of favorites accessible from a separate tab.
* Share these details via Facebook, Twitter, or email.
* View web sites from exhibitors and sponsors.

The application also allows you to keep track of a live Twitter feed before, during, and after the conference.

With all the talk of Twitter and Facebook slowly taking over the world, we’ve all seemed to forget about MySpace. Many of us don’t even equate MySpace with social networking as we once did. It seems as though MySpace is now just a place for musicians and advertisements.

During the past six months, MySpace activity has dropped significantly. According to Mashable.com, MySpace’s U.S. traffic dropped from 55.6 million unique visitors in August to 50.2 million in September. Wow. That’s more than five million users in one month.

MySpace is in a downward, accelerating spiral. It’s losing millions and millions of dollars for News Corp., not to mention three executives and countless staff layoffs the past few months. MySpace is losing users like, whoa.

Where’d they all go?

To Facebook and Twitter.

Now, Facebook has taken the lead among social networking sites. Twitter is rapidly gaining on MySpace. According to the comScore report, Twitter has grown by close to 50 percent from April to September. Facebook’s 50 million user lead has grown to 75 million over the summer.

So what does this mean for MySpace? Is it just being left in the dust?

MySpace has redirected their goals. It is trying to refocus the site by appealing to specific entertainment-driven audiences. While MySpace has always seemed to be a good place for musicians to go, it’s now aiming to be the best place.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “In a strategy shift, MySpace is striving to become an online hangout for people to connect with friends over entertainment content…MySpace says ramping up its technology initiatives to create new products that let users share such content with friends is an essential part of its strategy.”

I think MySpace has to do quite a bit more than just that to regain users. MySpace has turned into a feeding ground for advertisers and spammers. If MySpace is serious about being all things entertainment, the site will need a total revamp to legitimately compete with other music/entertainment sites like Pandora, Blip.fm and even YouTube.

I suppose only time can determine MySpace’s ultimate fate in the cyberworld.

Social media can seem overwhelming. Trying to keep up with what your friends are doing on Facebook, following experts on Twitter and reading up on blogs can be time-consuming. Once you’ve exposed yourself to the social sphere and are just as addicted as everyone else, it’s important to strike a balance between work and social life.

This is a challenge that many brands across the social networking world face every day. How do I make my page stand out among the millions of others? How do I get individuals to visit my page, and keep coming back?

According to TechCrunchies.com in a survey taken in December 2008, 2.6 billion minutes are spent each day on Facebook alone.

We all know it; social media is breaking every boundary when it comes to obtaining information. However, social media is all about interacting and when you follow, fan, or update, it involves action, thus taking up hours of the day.

Being productive while using social media is a lifestyle. It affects everything you do – what you buy, where you go, who you meet and, most importantly, how you spend your time. It’s important as a brand to realize that people might be limiting themselves on social networking sites; therefore, brands must make their page a “must-see” in order to retain their viewers.

So, now you’re asking, how does a brand create a successful Facebook page?

1. Determine your target demographic. It’s important before a brand even starts travelling down the social media road that they figure out exactly who they want to reach. This will allow you to fine-tune your ultimate message in order to reach a greater amount of engaged users.
2. Use other platforms. It is crucial to overall social media success to utilize all options when distributing your brand information. If you have a Facebook page, link it to your Twitter, your blog, vice versa. Hit ‘em from all angles. Also, supply slightly different information on each site giving users a reason to visit each individually.
3. Utilize pre-existing pages or sites. Most likely, your brand already has a website. It’s important to integrate this website into your use of social media. Whether it’s through links, comments or redirects, using your pre-existing site will further your brand’s influence on the social media sphere.
4. Become an expert. It is essential to your brand to become an expert in your industry. Why? Because, while you may be influencing a specific demographic, you also need to appeal to the user that may not know exactly what you do, but are ever so curious. If you appear as an expert in your field, you are more likely to attract all kinds of users who will then tell their friends to check you out because you are the specialist.
5. Engage your users. People don’t just want to see facts and statistics (although they are interesting to some). The social media sphere is a world full of interaction and it is vital to your brand’s success to engage your users, provide an outstanding user experience, and keep them coming back for more. Use games, contests, polls, discussions, or whatever you think applies best to your brand’s goal. Interact and engage!

The social world covers a vast expanse of people from all demographics with different goals. It is important to be productive while using social media and to see it as a tool and not a distraction. Brands can help with this by creating opportunities for useful engagement.

The MONOPOLY at McDonald’s application is the official Facebook Application for the 2009 MONOPOLY Game at McDonald’s. Users will use the application to play FREE Codes and game stamp codes received from McDonald’s locations and the contest. Users are provided a simple way to play their codes and are taken to the official PlayAtMcD.com game in order to play their codes through.

User Description:
Target users of the application will include any fan of the annual MONOPOLY promotion at McDonald’s and any person who would like to interact with the game via Facebook. As the Facebook Application is an entry-point to the official game, it may be the preferred method of play for many users.

Splash Screen – Users will seen this screen when they first use MONOPOLY on the McDonald’s brand page. Official rules for the user’s region are displayed and clicking GO takes you to the game. Game Screen – The main application screen allows users to update their Facebook status telling their friends what they’d do if they won $1 Million from the MONOPOLY game. Also, and more importantly, users may play a FREE Code or any game piece codes they receive from McDonald’s by entering it in the code field and clicking Let’s Play. This will offer the user a chance to post a feed item about their play and will take the user to the official PlayAtMcD.com game site for the 2009 MONOPOLY Game at McDonald’s.

Status Updater – When a user clicks into the text box, the preformatted text clears and they can tell their friends what *they* would do if they won $1 Million. Clicking Update Status will ask the user for permission to update their status message and update that status once allowed. Game Board – Here is the portion of the main screen where users enter codes to play. Users are given a FREE Code to play and may enter any game piece codes they receive from the 2009 MONOPOLY Game at McDonald’s here. Clicking Let’s Play asks the user if they would like to post a feed story and takes them to the official game site in order to play their code. Status and Feed Results – How the status updates and feed stories appear in a user’s feed.

It was recently announced that Facebook is making significant changes in the ways application developers have access to Facebook user data. According to PCWorld and InsideFacebook, Facebook is changing the privacy features over the next year as a result of a meeting with the Canadian government. The meeting included recommendations from Canada regarding the distribution and acquiring of information by Facebook applications. In response, Facebook will increase the publicity of its privacy features and tighten privacy controls.

So, how does this affect application developers? There are tens of thousands of third-party applications build for Facebook by developers, like Context (but not as cool). Facebook will now begin to require that these developers comply with a new set of permissions. These permissions require the application developers to specify what specific information they want to obtain from users of the application.

After the developers decide what exactly they want to know, they must integrate the detailed information request and allow users to consent to making this information available to the application.

The ultimate goal is to make Facebook members more informed about how applications use their profile information and give them the option to opt out of making this information available to these third-party applications.

What’s most important here is how these changes will affect brands on their endeavors to integrate social media into their marketing plans.

These changes may hamper creative possibilities with any given application, since a simple allow button in the past may need to be replaced with many check boxes or a multi-level permission process. Don’t panic though; it’s not all bad.

First of all, our strategy proposals for recent clients have been far less application focused than in the past. As successive Facebook redesigns have de-emphasized app interaction we’ve found custom applications to be less valuable for certain brands than at times in the past.

Furthermore, brands tend to have higher privacy regulations than small application developers. These changes will allow brands to uphold their privacy standards even on Facebook, while holding small shops to the same standards. This reassurance that the brand is not “out to get” users’ private information may create incentive for more user participation and a more level playing field.

All in all, developers shouldn’t be drastically affected by the new privacy controls and explanations. Applications should only be affected in the permissions. Brands are able to use these new controls to their advantage.

For brands trying to survive and thrive in social media, quality should more important than quantity. The number of followers or page views or fans your brand has doesn’t matter, posting highly useful information and building a strong relationship with your consumers does. Those who love a brand will tell their friends, and *that* is the core of how a brand builds audience in social media. However, it seems as if quantity is what many brands are focused on – more followers, more page views, more fans, more subscribers, more, more, more, and this mono-focus on scale can have a detrimental impact on the brand.

Some of this attention may be the result of unrealistic or misguided expectations. For a user to become a fan of or follow a brand, it needs to be a product or service which the consumer not only uses, but favors enough to publicly share their affinity with others. Ashton Kutcher or CNN may be able to gain 1 million followers on Twitter overnight, but it’s likely that your brand can not. It takes time and energy and effort to gain followers, fans, or page views. Trying to force this process can destroy a brands authenticity, and that authenticity is critical to social media success. Advertising can help with audience acquisition and augment the process, but brands must pave their own social path by forging relationships, not focusing all of their efforts on finding new recruits.

It is essential to your brand’s social media success that you don’t get caught up with numbers and popularity. You must pave your own path that leads to brand development. If you focus on this, followers or subscribers will come.

Here are some suggestions on how to build a productive path in social media for your brand:

• Narrow your topic. Find out what your brand represents in the social media world. Whether it represents photography, golf, law, or any other genre, stick with it. When you stray, you lose credibility and, therefore, lose user interest.

• Start slow. You don’t need to overload users with information. Spread it out. Allow users to soak it in, giving them time to realize that you really do know what you’re talking about and your brand is able to develop expertise in its field.

• Don’t snap. Be aware of your emotions and how you portray them through social media. As we all know, it can be difficult to decipher emotion through text. It’s best to veer away from it completely.

• Ask questions. Reaching out is the best way to gain credibility and worthiness in the social media sphere. Involve people in what you and your brand are doing. Ask what they want to know about your industry or field. Always, always respond to a question asked. Interact with users and they will keep coming back for more. It can be tricky establishing virtual relationships, so make sure you actively interact.

• Be real. As stated before, it can be tricky establishing legitimate relationships with users. It’s crucial to be genuine and real with everyone you interact with. It’s always good to know there’s an actual person behind the social media operation.

• Offer something. Whether you’re giving away products or advice, people love free stuff. There’s no better way to entice users than to give them something useful (or even not useful). This way you are also able to get your brand out there in the physical world, not just the virtual.

• Set a goal. It’s relatively pointless to log on to your brand’s profile or page and twiddle around for a few hours and then be done with it. Goals give your actions direction and puts motivation behind them. Remember, keep them realistic, but nonetheless, strive for something. Pick a (realistic) number of followers you wish to gain for your brand, decide how many blog posts to post each week, whatever you choose, meet it.

No matter what you do to influence the social media sphere, remember, it’s not a competition. Social media is about interaction with people, starting dialogue and developing ongoing, lasting relationships. Don’t get over-competitive. Stay calm. Have fun. Reach your goals.

In a previous post, I described how social media can provide millions of unearned impressions for brands. In this post, I’d like to show how Target did just that as part of its Bullseye Gives campaign.

To raise awareness of its charitable programs, Target wanted to give stakeholders the ability to decide how the company would divide $3 million between ten national charities. Context worked with Target and AKQA to build an interactive voting application on Target’s Facebook page that allowed users to vote for their favorite charity once per day.

Diving traffic both within Facebook and from external sites, a media buy kept new users coming to the page. The application’s viral elements, specifically the news feed items, gave Target a huge lift, leveraging their media buy with social advocacy.

To give an idea of just how effectively social media leveraged Target’s campaign (and do so without disclosing proprietary information), we can use publicly available information to estimate how many additional impressions Target earned through its use of social media. There were approximately 290 thousand counted votes, (also meaning 290 thousand possible news feed items distributed). We also know that the average Facebook user has 120 friends, and that 50% of Facebook users visit at least once daily, so we can estimate that each of these news feed item were seen by 60 of a user’s friends. Assuming between 50% and 70% of people whose vote counted (that 290 thousand) actually chose to publish their results (a conservative estimate, given our experience), we can calculate that Target earned between 8.7M and 12M additional *advocated* impressions.

That’s not a bad ROI for a small technology investment.

With Twitter becoming a household name used around the world, it’s no wonder businesses are working double- time to develop there “Twitter Brand” and “Twitter Marketing Plan.” Twitter originally started out as a site seemingly created for friends to share what they were doing in short updates. It has now evolved into a huge marketing tool for companies to easily reach their consumers for free.

Because of this newfound freedom when reaching out to consumers, there are many ways companies can both build and break relationships.

Here is a list Twitter Best Practices when establishing your brand on Twitter:

1. Have a plan
You’ve created your Twitter account, filled out the profile information, chosen a picture and a background, maybe even picked up a few followers. Now what? Now, you’re stuck. It’s important to have a plan when configuring your Twitter account so it furthers your specific needs. Do some research. Look around at other Twitter accounts. Gather a few followers and see what kinds of tweets interest you. See what kinds of tweets drive you crazy. By doing this, you will be able to determine what kinds of tweets you should publish so you can successfully reach your target audience.

2. Interact with your followers
Every tweet counts. Make sure you are taking each one seriously and thinking before you click “send.” It is absolutely crucial to interact with your followers in order to build constructive relationships – and that’s what Twitter is all about. If someone asks you a question, make sure you answer it. If someone asks for your advice, give it to them honestly. If someone says something insightful about you, your product, or something you’re interested in, let them know. With all the capabilities of Twitter – @ reply, Direct Message and Re-Tweet – it is essential to communicate with your followers and potential consumers.

3. Keep it professional
It is important to maintain the difference between a personal Twitter account and a professional one. Especially when it comes to a specific brand, it is important not to cross and become too personal and unprofessional. Yes, your followers want to know you are a human being just interacting with another human being; however, hearing about what you ate for dinner isn’t going to entice them into buying your product.

There are also a few things that brands should not do on Twitter, including:

1. Do not spam
Spamming. Whether it’s in our inbox, via telephone or even in our personal mailbox, we all hate it. On Twitter, it’s the same concept. Don’t copy and paste the same tweets over and over again and don’t overload people with many tweets all at once. Instead, think of different, creative ways to get across the same message and then spread your tweets out so you can reach a wider audience and persuade more people to trust and use you for their needs.

2. Do not hard sell
Hard selling your product is a surefire way to get blocked and destroy the relationships you have been building with your community. Market yourself, but don’t sell yourself too much. Don’t make someone feel like you are selling something – let me explain – when you’re selling a product on Twitter, you want the consumer to feel like they are making the absolute best choice possible. This is done through conversations and advice, not through shoving a product down someone’s throat. Your followers should want to hear what kinds of products you offer because they trust you and your judgment and when you say that this product is the best, they will believe you.

3. Do not use only automated responses
Automated responses are equivalent to cutting corners and no one gets ahead by cutting corners. Yes, automated responses are useful in moderation. However, it is important to let your followers know there is a human being behind your tweets. Make them personable and make sure you are responding to what others are talking about. People know a phony when they see one.

Twitter is all about building relationships and creating a community around your specific product. There are many positive ways you can use Twitter in order to boost your sales and achieve a higher response to marketing techniques. It’s important to have proper Twitter etiquette when approaching your target audience.

All you have to do is determine your goals, how you want to accomplish them and then create a community centered around your brand.