Understanding virality: Metcalfe’s Law
From Understanding viral content marketing infographic @ problogger.net:
Metcalfe's Law is a way to calculate the value of a network. The network effect says that the value of each potential sharer is proportional to the number, N, of other individuals he or she can connect to. [...]
The more interconnections and ways to share between people, the more easily, quickly and widely information can be shared.
Viral marketing is an attempt to get value that goes above and beyond cost. By tapping into the network effect, a marketer can gain far more value than cost. That's because while cost is still a constant, value grows exponentially based on the number of people whom the "viral" touches.
See also:
- Going Viral Visualized @ mashable.com
- Going viral: 7 best practices from the Viral Marketing Cheat Sheet @ conversity.be/blog
Going viral: 7 best practices from the Viral Marketing Cheat Sheet
Viral phenomena are the unicorns of the internet. Some famous examples are:
> Burger King’s ‘The Subservient Chicken’ (2004-2007)
> Cadbury’s ‘Dairy Milk Gorilla’ (2007)
> Cloverfield’s teaser trailer (2008)
> Blendtec’s ‘Will It Blend’ series (2007-2010 and beyond)
> Old Spice’s ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ + Responses (2010)
More here:
Like a virus, viral campaigns are successful if they are able to replicate themselves – sometimes by changing the objects who are exposed to them into copies of itself.
Unfurtunately, crafting a succesful marketing campaign is more difficult than it looks. It requires careful planning and research. Seven golden rules from the Viral Marketing Cheat Sheet:
- Stop being neutral
- Do something unexpected
- Don't make advertisements
- Make sequels
- Allow & promote sharing
- Connect with comments
- Never restrict access
InSites: Location-based services are still a niche application
From Social media around the world 2011 @ slideshare.net/stevenvanbelleghem:
Location-Based Services refers to a broad range of services that are based on information about the physical location of a user and/or device.
Location-based services provide the user with information such as "Where is the nearest ATM?" or they can be push-based and deliver coupons or other marketing information to customers who are in a specific geographical area.
[...] The reach of location-based services (lbs) is limited. Only 12% is currently using lbs, mainly Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla.
Important note: Facebook Places was reported discontinued on August 24, 2011. Facebook users can now add location from anywhere, regardless of what device you are using, or whether it is a status update, photo or Wall post.
More highlights regarding Location-Based Services from the report:
- People are encouraged by social media to share information, but they seem somewhat less enthusiastic to share their location. The issue is mainly due to privacy and a lack of awareness.
- Both users and non users expect brands and companies to offer local discounts wherever they go, or advise on things to do /information regarding the place they are.
7 tips to increase your Facebook posts’ EdgeRank
Whether your Facebook Page updates rank high in your fans' "Top News" or not depends on a Facebook algorhythm called EdgeRank.
What is EdgeRank?
From No wall posts, no likes @ conversity.be/blog:
EdgeRank is the algorithm that Facebook uses to determine the order of items in your Feed. In the end, it’s really simple, as it has just three factors: affinity, edge, and decay.
Affinity is basically the connection between you and the piece of content. The more times you’ve interacted with the source of the content (Facebook calls it an “object”) in the past, the higher the affinity. For example, if you comment on your sister’s Wall everyday, content from your sister will have a high affinity score because you interact a lot with her.
Second is “edge.” [...] All that edge refers to the relative weight of objects. For example, a comment on a Wall Post probably carries more weight than a Like because it take more effort to post a comment. [Note: making your Page content mostly text will probably affect your Edge negatively].
Last, and simplest, is decay. This is the time that has past since the object was created.
In their infographic Conquer the Facebook, Facebook App Post Planner calls these popularity, relevance and recency:
These three parameters define how many of your fans see your status. With most Facebook Pages, this usually varies between 3% and, say, 12%.
So how do you increase the EdgeRank for your Facebook Page posts?
From the previously mentioned infographic Conquer the Facebook:
- Ask questions. Tip: keep it simple and easy to answer. Ask "Would" not "Why".
- Post fill-in-the-blanks. Tip: go for "knee-jerk" responses. One word answers are ideal.
- Post photos. Tip: crop your pics before posting. Make the mini, "News Feed" version enticing.
- Talk about the news. Tip: be controversial, but not offensive.
- Ask for likes. But limit your call-to-action to ONE action.
- Talk about Facebook. Facebookers LOVE to talk about Facebook.
- Celebrate today. Check out famous birthdays, etc.
Your blog as the center of your social media solar system
In Content Marketing Institute's recent B2B Content Marketing report [.pdf], blogging was the 6th most popular content choice, behind social media, articles, in-person events, enewsletters and case studies. But of even greater interest is the report’s discovery of a “confidence gap”: only 40% of their respondents rated blogs as effective, while a considerable 60% said it was “less effective/ineffective. ”
What it is
Shorthand for “Weblog, the blog offers an easy way to present brief chunks of frequently refreshed Web content. Backed with easy-to-use technologies for syndication (e.g. RSS), comments and trackbacks, blogs are often the blazing centers of social media solar systems that can incorporate sophisticated SEO strategies and community-building campaigns.
3 key play points:
- Encourage conversations: even “bad” comments can be an opportunity for developing good customer relations.
- Be a good netizen: participate on other blogs as well as your own. Develop a Top 15 hit list where you need to be “hanging out. ”
- Loosen up. Authenticity trumps perfection when connecting with readers.
More where this came from:
Further reading:
- 10 Blogging Tips for Beginners and Experts @ junta42.com
- Content Marketing Playbook 2011 @ contentmarketinginstitute.com (.pdf)
Definitions: paid, earned, owned media
From Your new, new media options @ smartinsights.com:
The main types of media are:
- Paid media. Simple. Paid or bought media are media where there is investment to pay for visitors, reach or conversions through search, display ad networks or affiliate marketing.[...]
- Earned media.[...]Earned media [...] includes word-of-mouth that can be stimulated through viral and social media marketing and includes conversations in social networks, blogs and other communities. It’s useful to think of earned media as developed through different types of partners such as publishers, bloggers and other influencers including customer advocates. [...]
- Owned media. This is media owned by the brand. Online this includes a company’s own websites, blogs, mobile apps or their social presence on Facebook, Linked In or Twitter. [...]
Forrester's take on the subject:
8 theories about influencers
From The state of influencer theory on the social Web:
The discussion about influence’s actual being has been ongoing since the social Web first began. As the infographic depicts, there are several theories influencing the professional conversation.
- The Tipping Point (2000) by Malcolm Gladwell: Movements are caused by three types of influencers: connectors, mavens (subject-matter experts) and salesmen. Examples: Old Spice Guy, Dell Listens.
- Six Degrees/Weak Ties (2003) by Duncan Watts: Data analysis shows influencers rarely start contagious movements; instead, average citizens provide the spark. Examples: Egyptian revolution, Tumblr – Digg events.
- One Percenters (2006) by Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell: It is the content creators amongst Internet communities that drive online conversations. Examples: Lady Gaga, Ford Fiesta.
- The Magic Middle (2006) by David Sifry: The middle tier of content creators and voices break stories, and discussing that trickles up into widespread contagious events. Examples: 2008 Obama election, Motrin Moms.
- The Groundswell (2008) by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff: Movements start within communities, and leaders rise up out of the community and can have many roles including content creator, critic and collector. Examples: Haiti earthquake texting, Pepsi Refresh Project.
- Trust Agents (2009) by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith: Influencers are people who build online trust and relationships with communities that look to them for advice and direction. Examples: Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library TV, Republican Party’s #FirePelosi campaign.
- Free Agents (2010) by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine: These trusted influencers are independent of traditional command and control organizations and crash into walls of storied culture. Examples: @BPGlobalPR, Robert Scoble at Microsoft’s Channel 8.
- Leaderboards (2010-11): Influence can be quantified by online actions taken by a person’s community, including retweets, mentions, comments and more. Examples: Klout, Empire Avenue.
Benchmarked: top 8 f-commerce vendors
From Say Hello to the F-Commerce Ecosphere [Infographic] @ socialcommercetoday.com
Nominally f-commerce describes the range of activities in which Facebook is used to assist in the buying and selling of products and services. In this sense f-commerce is a subset of social commerce – the use of social media, online media that supports social interaction and user contributions to assist in the buying and selling of products and services.
Econsultancy.com has a list of 101 examples of f-commerce.
One of the f-commerce forms are f-stores: f-commerce where transactions take place on Facebook itself. Shoppers can purchase real goods with real currency wityout leaving Facebook.
From Facebook: Benchmark of F-Commerce Services @ thomascrampton.com
http://www.8thbridge.com/
Merchants partner with 8thBridge to create social shopping experiences for their customers inside Facebook and on their ecommerce sites. Customers are empowered to shop with merchants on their own terms in a shopping experience that is portable, personalized, and participatory.
http://northsocial.com/
North Social has been building innovative and impactful social media applications, promotions, and marketing campaigns for some of the most forward thinking brands on the planet since 2006.
http://www.shopigniter.com/
Leading brands and retailers leverage ShopIgniter to promote new product announcements with exclusive offers.
http://www.payvment.com/
Payvment is a Facebook storefront for ecommerce merchants. The Payvment app lets you import your ecommerce products directly to your Facebook Fan Page, which means that users can shop and complete the transaction right there on the site.
http://zibaba.com/
Zibaba, a preferred Facebook development company enabling retailers and affiliates to easily set up Facebook storefronts directly on their fan pages, is a complete eCommerce solution.
http://www.usablenet.com
Based in New York, Italy, and the UK, Usablenet is a global leader in extending companies’ online brands to their customers, wherever they are: on mobile, on Facebook, at an in-store kiosk, on a tablet, and more
http://www.moontoast.com/
Moontoast helps musicians, artists, authors, athletes, and other affinity-based brands monetize their social networks in a way that builds fan loyalty, leads to incremental revenue opportunities, and increases per-sale profits.
http://www.milyoni.com/
Milyoni has created the leading f-commerce solution in the market with over 50 brands representing over 60 million fans. Milyoni's f-commerce solution Conversational Commerce rovides an online social shopping experience that operates completely within Facebook and an innovative suite of social merchandising tools to engage fans in conversations with implicit or explicit product promotions.
Word of the day: SoLoMo (social, location, mobile)
From WordSpy, the Word Lover's guide to new words:
SoLoMo
n. Mobile phone apps that combine social networking and location data. [Social + location (or local) + mobile.]
The term caught my eye in Google Defines Social Strategy at InformationWeek.com:
SoLoMo offers a reminder that data sets do not exist in a vacuum. Search expert and Web 2.0 Conference co-chair John Battelle has described several categories of data that are relevant to Google and its kin: There's the social graph (contacts, friends), interest data (likes, tweets, recommendations), search data (queries, history), purchase data (what you buy, credit card numbers), location data (where you are, have been, and are going), and content data (behavior when engaged with content).
An example: I'm in Diegem, and hungry. I use the Google App on my smartphone to give a "pizza" voice command. The app returns search results for pizza deliveries in a 20 km radius of Diegem, who are open right now, with clickable phone numbers to order and sorted by the amounts of "likes" or ratings from people within my social graph.
Below is a chart that shows how different players in the field are looking for their own value proposition within the SoLoMo space. Anyone know who the author/source is?
