Google Social Media Strategy Update

10 12 2010

The one thing that is clear about Google’s Social Media strategy is that it is evolving.  Here are some of the highlights of the latest news on the subject:

  • Google Me planned for Fall 2010, will now roll out in the Spring 2011 timeframe.
    • Google Me was planned for fall.  ZDnet Article.
    • Then they said they were not building a traditional platform.  Telegraph Article.
    • Now, the update is that Google Me or Google +1 will roll out in the spring of 2011.  Blogherald Article.
  • Google will not compete head-on with Facebook.  The emphasis will be on providing a new and unique social media experience.  (Good Idea)
  • Google +1, which is the latest thinking on what was Google Me, will not be an app so much as a browser extension.  This will be complimented by a mobile app called Loops.
  • The idea behind Loops is that you have “loops” or groups of friends and do not want to blast out all messages to everybody.  You want to send certain types of messages to certain groups.  That makes a lot of sense to me.

Why a Frontal Assault of Facebook Does Not Make Strategic Sense

It’s a matter of simple mathematics.  Social media is all about your community.  Check the relative community sizes of Facebook and Google.

Facebook            Over 500 million

Google                 Well over 100 million GMail users

How Do All The Google Parts Fit Together?

There is actually quite a lot going on at Google that would compliment their social media strategy.  The big thing that is missing is a natural way of pulling it all together – a sort of grand unification theory.  Google needs to find a way to leverage its strengths in search, video, email, etc and extend them naturally into the social media space.

The good news for Google is that they are not starting from bare dirt.  They have a lot of corporate assets that can play in this space.  The big challenge for Google will be to convince all of their anonymous users (Search, YouTube, Maps) to create and share online identities and become part of a Google community.

Groupon would seem like a very nice fit with this whole picture.  The Groupon model would be a great way to monetize social media and diversify Google’s sources of income which is virtually all from ads.  The problem is that Groupon turned down a $6 billion offer from Google last week.  BW Article. The opportunity for Google is that Groupon’s business model is not to hard to emulate.  The challenge is that Google is coming from behind in social media and really doesn’t need another battle to fight.


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Social Media Marketing at Ford

5 11 2010

This is a follow-up to an earlier blog that I wrote about Ford and social media marketing.  They are continuing to do some great things over there.

The Ford Fiesta Movement

Ford launched the Ford Fiesta in this country entirely with social media marketing campaign called the Ford Fiesta Movement.

  • Ford gave 100 Fiestas to online personalities free for six months
  • The personalities were challenged to a contest where they got points for creating online content about the cars
  • Results at the time of launch
    • Over six million YouTube views
    • 740,000 Flickr images
    • 3.7 Twitter impressions
    • 80,000 people asked for more information about the Fiesta – and 97% had never owned a Ford before.
    • 40% Generation Y awareness

All this was done with zero traditional media.  It was a 100% social marketing campaign.

Ford Social Media Marketing Video

(This is really worth watching — all the way through)

Ford is not stopping there

The video here talks about how Ford is now doing a Focus Rally America event for the Ford Focus.

Here’s how Focus Rally America works (and this is creative):

  • Ford will select six teams of two people to compete in an interactive cross-country road rally.
  • The winner gets $100,000 plus 10 Ford Focus cars to give away to the people who help them the most online.
  • Clues to navigating the rally will be published online and the community will have to pick teams and support them by helping them to solve the clues.

Scott Monty, goes on to describe how Ford is using social media as a part of integrated marketing campaigns that have far more impact than traditional marketing campaigns.  These campaigns include

  • Paid media
  • Earned media
  • Owned media

The key to success, as he describes it so well, is: “It’s people talking to people about Ford, not Ford talking to people about Ford.”

The other important thing to take away from this is that Ford is generating user and interest and buzz without being gimmicky, in my opinion.  This is a fun way to generate genuine interest in their products.


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Categories : Business Models, Company Example, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Plan, Social Media, Social Media Company, Social Media Data, Social Media Marketing

Google Me Coming this Fall

1 10 2010

Eric Schmidt has confirmed that “Google Me” is not just a rumor.  It is coming “sometime this fall.”  Google Me has been described as a social layer that is integrated with their current offerings such as Search, YouTube, and Google Maps.

Google’s intent with Google Me is to allow users to access information and profiles that they have created on other sites such as Twitter, Flickr, and others.  They are also trying to get access to the data on Facebook.

Google is also looking to partner with some of the big game companies on Facebook.  They have said that they will integrate with Zynga and have a stake in the company.

These rumors have been confirmed in:

Reuters

WSJ (you will need to read down a bit in this article)

What’s driving Google

  • First of all, social media is hot and Google needs to be a part of it to continue to be a leader in the online world.  Google’s Orkut has only been successful in Brazil and India and Google Wave was killed last month.  Google has learned from both experiences and will incorporate that learning into their approach with Google Me.
  • Social Media is an opaque world to search, the core of Google’s business. As more activity moves to Social Media, Google is getting left out.  With Facebook at 500 million users, the strategic threat is significant.
  • Advertising.  This is the core of Google’s revenue stream.  As we have discussed in the two previous blogs on this site, the growth rate for search ad revenue is slowing while it increases in display ads, particularly banner ads and video ads.  Google’s model is to place ads within the context of what users are doing.  As they lose visibility to user activity online, they lose the ability to place useful ads and their overall relevance decreases.

Google’s strategic need for Google Me is clear.  The details remain to be seen.  The key issue is how Google gets over the hurdle of the 500 million Facebook users.  This is a classic “barrier to entry” in the social media space.  Users do not want to build and manage multiple online presences and profiles.  Can Google deliver a service that:

  • Fits naturally with the way people work and interact online
  • Provides significant value to users over and above what they have today
  • Allows users to leverage existing network relationships without having to re-build them on another site
  • Respects people’s privacy.  Google has had troubles in this area such as the way they implemented Google Buzz and Street View.
  • Aggregates many different online activities in one place, making it easier for people to manage their virtual lives

We should not have to wait too long to see.


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Social Media Advertising – Part II

10 09 2010

Just after my recent blog (9/7/10) on this subject, I saw a very interesting article on Mashable that offers some interesting numbers and analysis around social media advertising trends.

Some of the key points of the article include:

  • eMarketer projects that social will account for 6.7% of the total online ad spend this year.
  • The 2010 spending forecast for advertising on social networks is projected at $1.68 billion in the US, up 30%
  • Total social media ad spending is expected to pass $2 billion next year.
  • The big winner in this space is Facebook, with revenues projected to pass $1 billion this year.

In addition to Facebook, the article goes on to describe Promoted Tweets on Twitter where a company can insert a brand-sponsored topic into the trending topics list.  This program is in the early stages and is well worth watching.

Why the Move to Social Media Advertising?

  • The average user is now spending more time on Facebook than on Google according to comScore.
  • Nielson says that the average person spends more than seven hours per month on Facebook.
  • It’s effective 1: Social media lets companies target their audience much with much greater exactness.  The result: context-relevant ads and messages that are useful to end-users.
  • It’s effective 2: Social media lets the community digest messages if and when the want them, rather than interrupting their TV, reading, or radio experience.
  • Location-awareness offers the prospect of making messages even more relevant, helpful, and entertaining.
  • But, maybe most important of all, social media offers the opportunity for companies to engage in a two-way conversation with their communities 24x7x356.

The bottom line is that social media is where people are spending their time.  Social media also offers an opportunity to really engage with customers rather than just “drive-by selling.”


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Categories : Business Models, Enterprise Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Plan, Social Media, Social Media Data, Social Media Marketing

The Future of Advertising

7 09 2010

In previous blogs I have shared some of the research that shows that Social Media Marketing spend is projected to increase, often at the expense of traditional marketing methods.

Since then, I have run across the interesting news that the ad click-through rate has fallen in half in the last two years. (Source: comScore)

  • 32% click-through rate in July 2007
  • 16% click-through rate in March 2009

That should not be too surprising.  As users get more comfortable with technology, they develop personal skills and technologies to block out intrusive advertising.

So, advertising spending is moving away from traditional media, and moving more towards Internet and online advertising.  At the same time we know that click-through rates on ads are falling.  The conclusion is:

  • Ads need to be contextually relevant and helpful or entertaining to readers
  • Traditional, intrusive advertising will be less and less effective
  • You will also need to look at where you are advertising

The other big shift that we are seeing in advertising higher growth in display advertising and lower growth in search advertising. (Source: comScore)

  • Search Advertising was $2.9 billion in 2009, but grew at 4%
  • Display Advertising was $2.3 billion and grew at +15%
  • Some of the hot areas in Display Advertising include:
    • Banner Ads +8%
    • Video Ads + 48%

Some of the recent news in the industry reflects this data:

  • YouTube is using their ContentID technology to identify copyrighted content on their site, but rather than removing it, they are placing relevant ads with the content.  Full Article.
  • Yahoo! Has changed its strategic focus away from search and search ads to focus more on content and display ads.  The idea being to make the ads more effective by making them contextually relevant.  Full Article.

Where is online advertising heading from here?  Here are two examples of hot areas:

  • Ads within Social Media. Facebook has ads and Twitter is expected to follow in the reasonably near future.
  • Ads in mobile apps.  One the coolest and most useful examples I have seen is the information I have seen in the augmented reality apps.  These are presented as useful information about the physical locations around your present position.

The bottom line is, no matter where you place the ad, it has to be contextually-relevant, helpful and/or entertaining or your audience will just tune you out.  (Or some clever hacker will built a way to block your message.)


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