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.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories : Business Models, Company Example, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Plan, Social Media, Social Media Company, Social Media Data, Social Media Marketing

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.”


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
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.)


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : Business Models, Enterprise Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Plan, Social Media Marketing

Book Review: Open Leadership

30 08 2010

Having seen trends come and go over the years I tend to be deeply (and for good reason) suspicious of marketing hyperbole.  That’s why I really liked the book “Groundswell” by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff.  It was a lucid, practical, and level-headed approach to the coming groundswell of Social Media.

This past weekend, I finished reading Charlene Li’s most recent book, “Open Leadership” and it picks up right where Groundswell left off.  This book takes a deeper, more pragmatic, look at how to build and implement a Social Media strategy.  The key points of the book are all illustrated with real-life examples of major organizations that have gone through the process.

Many social media spokespeople are saying: be open, be transparent, be authentic.  That’s a great mantra and a great beginning. But there is a lot more to a successful social media strategy.  Exactly how does one actually go about implementing a social media strategy, especially in established enterprises that may not have the open culture required?  The devil is always in the details and there is often a lot of organizational resistance to suddenly going open:

  • Employees don’t know what to say or how to act online.
  • “That’s not the way it’s done here!”
  • Opening up is often threatening to middle managers who survive by controlling information.
  • Opening up exposes the company and individuals to criticism from outside

We all want feedback from our customers, but going open and embracing social media can be very scary.  Open Leadership goes into the how of successfully using social media in an enterprise; from giving up control, to building an open strategy, to providing the leadership required for your enterprise to successfully make the transition.

Let’s face it.  Social media is a social phenomenon that is happening in a much broader scale than just in the business world. And, there is no stopping a social phenomenon.  The only real choices are to get on board and figure out how to ride the phenomena or to get run over by it.  Social media is going to happen with or without your company’s involvement.  The question is: Do you want your customers and competitors to frame the online discussion without your presence or do you want to join in on the discussion and build lasting relationships with your customers and potential customers.

This book tells you how to go about it, step-by-step.  Highly recommended.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Book Review, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Plan, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

Cloud Computing Software: Value Propositions & Issues

6 08 2010

There is a lot of discussion about software applications that run as a service in the cloud (SaaS) and a lot of effort being put into defining clear value propositions that will motivate customers to move some or all of their internal IT software services to the cloud.  Some example of cloud software service providers include NetSuite, Salesforce.com, Intuit, and SugarCRM.

First, here are some of the compelling business reasons to adopt software services that run in the cloud:

  • No Software (as Salesforce.com says).  Literally, there is no software to install, upgrade or maintain.  It’s all in the cloud, managed by the vendor, and customers access it through a browser.
  • Time savings. Less time spent on IT means more time doing what is core to your business; generating revenue and creating satisfied customers.
  • Anywhere Access.  Most SaaS software these days runs in a browser.  This means that your applications can be accessed anywhere you have a browser, including on your smartphone or at a customer site.
  • Software Updates Don’t Break Your Applications. The vendor has the responsibility to see that the software evolves in a way that does not disrupt business activity.  A nice change.
  • Less Data Integration. Most cloud applications have a common data repository at least within a vendor’s offerings. That means that multiple applications can use the same shared data, breaking up the silos of productivity normally found in backoffice applications.  Of course, the problems remain when doing business or data integration across different vendor’s offerings.
  • Opex, Not Capex. Cloud services are typically billed as a monthly charge that is very predictable for budgeting purposes and can be written off as a business expense.  Purchasing software, installing it on a server and operating it results in significant capital expenses that must be managed and depreciated over time.
  • Lower Up-Front Cost. Typically, cloud applications are offered on a pay for use basis.  With packaged software you pay up front and may go through a substantial development and deployment cycle before you are able to use the application.
  • Predictability. Cloud services are offered for a monthly or per-user charge that is easy to budget for.  There is much less chance of a surprise.

All of these are very compelling business benefits and are generating a lot of interest in the cloud model.  There are also some issues and concerns that need to be considered when moving to the cloud.  The more successful cloud computing vendors will have strong, documented answers to these issues.

Cloud Computing Software Application Issues

  • Data Security.  With cloud computing your data is in the cloud and managed by your cloud vendor.  The question is: Do you trust this vendor with the literal lifeblood of your business? What safeguards and backup procedures do they have to protect your business data?
  • Access Security.  One of the advantages of cloud computing is that you can access your applications anywhere.  The issue is: How secure is the access to your applications and data?  What security measures (Authentication, Access Control, Intrusion Detection) does your vendor offer?
  • Quality of Service: What is the uptime, response time, and latency of the application running on your vendor’s platform?  How well can this service scale as you add users?  What guarantees does your vendor offer?
  • Business Integration.  How easy is it to integrate your existing applications running behind the firewall at your business with the new applications running in the cloud?  There are a number of business and data integration companies out there who are specifically seeking to address this issue.  See SnapLogic.com.
  • Migration to the Cloud.  Most people will be moving applications from in-house to the cloud rather than starting from scratch.  How easy is it to do the migration?  Can you move your data over? Are there tools to assist in the migration? Can you run the two applications in parallel for a period as you get comfortable with the new application?
  • Application Customization. Most cloud applications offer minimal ability to customize the application functionality to your business need.  Serious consideration of cloud computing services is often a trade-off between the compelling economics of cloud computing versus the lack of ability to customize the application. You should look into how much customization is possible with you prospective vendor and if that meets your business objectives.  Obviously, if an application represents core market differentiation for your business, it is probably not a good candidate for moving to the cloud.

There are strong pros and cons to considering cloud software application services.  Some applications are better candidates for moving to the cloud than others.  Also, the value of cloud applications and approach to the issues will vary based on the size of the business, the types of applications, and what industry the company is in.

For Small To Medium Sized Businesses

The economic benefits and freeing up time from IT tasks are significant.  The major barrier with SMB is often the perceived issue of data security.  Vendors should address this concern by:

  • Deliver facts about how often SMBs lose data by managing it themselves.
  • Document the business cost of these losses.
  • Deliver facts about the quality of their service and data protection guarantees.

For Enterprise Customers

The economic, budgetary and access benefits are compelling.  The greater issue here is that most enterprises have dozens to hundreds of in-house enterprise software applications that they run their businesses on.  The major issues with this class of customers will be:

    • Maintaining security levels inside and outside the enterprise firewall.  Approaches for cloud vendors to address these concerns include:
        • Carefully documenting your security capabilities.
        • Carefully documenting your security track record.
        • Providing for some security integration between cloud applications and enterprise applications such that there is single sign-on and consistency of policy between the two environments.
        • Look into security solutions that span applications running in the cloud and in the enterprise.  Example: Okta.com
    • The ability to integrate applications that exist behind the enterprise firewall with applications running in the cloud.
        • Offer consulting services to help with business integration of the applications.
        • Partner with VARs and System Integrators to offer consulting services in this area.
        • Look into startups that are offering solutions aimed specifically at this problem.  An example is SnapLogic.com which build connectors and data filters as reusable and sharable services.

    Comments : Leave a Comment »
    Tags: , , , , ,
    Categories : Borderless Networks, Cloud Computing, Technology

    « Previous Entries Next Entries »


    Follow

    Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.