The Art of Conversation Social Media is Here. Brands Need to Adapt.

A Lesson in the Evolution of the New Media and its Revolutionary Impacts

on Business

Web 2.0 and the Long-tail AudienceWhat is Web 2.0? It is a living term describing changing trends in the ways software developers and end-users use the Web that have helped shape this new creativity, information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies. An important distinction is that Web 2.0 has huge implications for what we call the Long Tail i.e. niche communities. Pareto’s Principle states that 20% of the population control 80% of the wealth. These include big brands like Coke and Mcdonald’s. What’s more important is the immense opportunity for the remaining 80% of the web population, who NOW can leverage 2.0 to help move the needle to their own advantage.

Participation is the New ConsumptionBefore social computing, the web was static, centrally managed and slow to change. Top down information flow was the standard from established research institutions to corporations to governments. These were sources we didn’t question.In this new space there is a shift:1) From centralization to decentralization. This means the move away from what we remember as the “mainframe computer” to the emergence of peer to peer networks. 2) From one-way information flow to multiple conversation exchanges. The audience is contributing to conversation and information exchange is taking place. This is creating new knowledge streams through user generated content. Simultaneously, this audience is not readily accepting the content provided by mainstream media and traditional sources as truth. Peer Influence is tantamount to the traditional marketing message. Marketers must realize their marketing messages only contribute to a fraction of consumer conversion. On top of this, social computing has made it easier to amplify conversation and influence, creating an ability to spread messages farther and faster.

The Digital EvolutionBefore media became digitized, we saw:

A few media with massive reach.As consumers, we were easy to access. We read the same papers, listened to the same radio programs, and watched the sametelevision shows as everyone we knew. Marketers had it easy…but it was rare for aconsumer to see an ad that was relevant tohim/her.

Now we see tons of media choices, allowingmarketers to reach massive amounts of people, via a massive amount of extremely targeted media experiences.

Users are moving down the long tail of media and this presents big challenges aswell as big opportunities for marketers.

Two key marketing challenges now exist:

1. Marketers need to be where the users are and also need to be relevant to those users.

2. Marketers need to re-think the message and re-think the media distribution.

Old Media

Mass Media

Reac

hNew Media

Mass Media Niche MediaMass Media Niche Media

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Marketing has become more challenging

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2Product Proliferation and availability meansmore choice for the buyer. It's a buyer’sworld today. For any good or service, thenumber of brands and the number of sellerswho can instantly reach the buyers anywherein the world has grown dramatically over thepast decade. In addition buyers have gainedaccess to an enormous amount of informationthat they can “pull” whenever they want,while ignoring the majority of the marketingand advertising that are “pushed” at them.

Media Proliferation In the 1960s the average home had fewer than 6 television stations from which to choose. Today it’s closer to 90, on average. The number of mass media platforms that ruled decades ago -print, radio, TV- have exploded to the extent that not one medium can really be considered mass anymore.

Today, media is fragmented• 13,500 radio stations (4,400 in 1960)• 17,300 magazine titles (8,400 in 1960)• 82.4 TV channels per home (5.7 in 1960)And the Web:• Millions of sites• Billions of pages

And that doesn’t even account for the new platforms: iPhones, MP3s, satellite radio, video on demand, PVRs, and peer-to-peer gaming. Now add in the millions of websites, and the billions of web pages and you begin to see the erosion of reaching an entire market with one simple media buy.

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Access Proliferation This trend has big implications for the media business: What does this mean for traditional advertising principles like reach, frequency or even primetime? Networks are investing in multi-platform programming like NBC’s Hulu; Google is already experimenting with measuring audience in the soon-to-be web/TV integration; and TIVO announced the user‘s ability to program TIVO from the mobile phone. Consumers are empowered with choice and are now squarely in control: they’re in control of how, when, & what kind of media they consume.

Generation C: The Consumer is in controlThe web has given birth to a new generation. It is the generation C. CONTENT by the Creative Class using the web as a CHANNEL to Communicate…

…Turning Conversation into Community. Today media is controlled, by co-creators….

Turning their creativity into CASH.

THIS IS THE POWER OF BEING CONNECTED. THIS IS CONSUMER 2.0

The power to define and control a brand is shifting from corporations and institutions to individuals and

communities.

The consumers today are Multitaskers. They are Intelligent. They are Individuals. They are part of the Community, the Participants. They are the Audience. They are the Customer. They are the Influencer. They are the User.

Cluetrain Manifesto

The Cluetrain Manifesto recently celebrated its 10th Anniversary. Defined (source Wikipedia), Cluetrain “ is a set of 95 theses organized and put forward as a manifesto[…]for all businesses operating within what is suggested to be a newly-connected marketplace. The authors assert that the Internet is unlike the ordinary media used in mass marketing as it enables people to have "human to human" conversations, which have the potential to transform traditional business practices radically. The ideas put forward within the manifesto aim to examine the impact of the internet on both markets (consumers) and organizations. In addition, … the manifesto suggests that changes will be required from organizations as they respond to the new marketplace environment.”

A radical change has occurred in the World of advertising and marketing

Consumers are not listening anymore…Interruptive Marketing has seen its day.

The Audience is Creating…The Audience is Selecting…. The Audience is Changing…and as a result the audience is telling brands……

“You want us to pay? We want you to pay attention. ”

“We are immune to advertising. Just forget it. ”

“ The Internet has become a place where people could talk to other people without constraint. Without filters or censorship or official sanction — and perhaps most significantly, without advertising ”“Don't talk to us as if you've forgotten how

to speak. Don't make us feel small. Remind us to be larger. Get a little of that human touch. ”

When Inter-networked Markets MEET Intra-networked WorkersThe connectedness of the Web is transforming what’s inside and outside your business – your market and your employees.•Through the Internet, the people in your markets are discovering and investing new ways to converse. They’re talking about your business. They’re telling one another the truth in very human voices.•Intranets are enabling your employees to hyperlink themselves together, out the side the org chart. They’re incredibly productive and innovative. They’re telling one another the truth in very human voice.•There’s a new conversation between and among your market and your workers. It’s making them smarter and enabling them to discover their human voices.

• There are brands finding out about this NEW conversation. And they are taking action and joining the conversation.

• eMarketer, October 2008 recognized the prevalence of the new media and announced its benefits spanning engagement, direct customer relations plus sales, brand reputation, PR and even impacts to product development, and operations.

You, as an organization have two choices: You can continue to lock yourself behind the facile corporate words and happy-talk brochures. Or you can join the conversation.” Clutrain 1999

People are Using Social Media

In Canada….• 84% of Canadians are active on Social Networks spending an average of 6

hours per month• In 2007 social network usage grew 16% and a whopping 70% of users in

the 55+ demographic visited a social network• Facebook: 1 in 6 Canadians are on Facebook• Toronto represents the 7th largest Twitter Population • 89% of Canadians each watched 114.5 videos totalling 385mins …in

comparison to just 77% of U.S. residents who watched 72 videos each.• YouTube was the destination of choice for 57% of Canadians who

watched 68 videos totaling 180 mins per month.• Blogs “grew” 7% in 2007, against an index of 4% for Internet growth.• 16mm, or 64%, of Canadians now visit blogs

Social media sites are the fastest-growing category on the web, doubling their traffic over the last year. Wave 3 Study from Universal McCann highlighted these stats:

• 184 million bloggers worldwide, 42 million in China. • 73% of active online users have read a blog• 45% have started their own blog• 39% subscribe to an RSS feed• 57% have joined a social network• 55% have uploaded photos• 83% have watched video clips

Despite the media fragmentation, social networking sites are experiencing high adoption rates 50% or greater among 18-34 year olds. Among the 35-44 demos, 30-39% are adopting this medium.

Sources: 1) IBM 2007 Digital Consumer Study 2) Universal McCann Wave 3 a study in 2008 across 17,000 respondents from 29 countries

Social Media: Global Stats

Universal McCann Wave 4 a study in 2009

While most social-net activities have witnessed some growth, the emergence of Twitter has contributed to the plateauing effect of blogging. Micro-blogging has made social media more efficient and allows opinion-leaders to collaborate and share at a faster rate.

Social Media is Practical

1. Learn what people are saying about you

2. Create buzz for events & campaigns3. Increase brand exposure4. Identify and recruit influencers to

spread your message5. Find new opportunities and customers6. Support your products and services7. Improve your search engine visibility8. Gain competitive intelligence9. Retain clients by establishing a

personal relationship10. Be an industry leader – not a follower11. Create sustainability and long-tem

relationships.

Mass Marketing

Social Marketing

Unlike Mass Marketing, Social Media has the uniquebenefit of targeting consumers already talk about your brand. The immediate relevance has the ability to spread through word of mouth recommendations.

Social Media continues to Evolve

“Top 10 Gadgets for Social Media Addicts”

“STATS: Young People Are Flocking to Twitter”

“Transparency Triumph. Reviewing is the new advertising.”

“How to Stalk your Kids on Facebook and Twitter”

“Newspapers are dying”“IBM's social media guidelines were first of the kind!”

“10 tips for building brand communities”

“Corporate Employee Twitter guidelines being written around the world”

“Zynga Is Twice As Big As Twitter -- And Actually Profitable!”

“Movie Rentals Might Be Coming to YouTube”

“5 Ways to Attract and Empower Your Crowd”

“Socia media wars - mommy bloggers vs PR Econsultancy”

“Google makes a grab for Hollywood Dollars with contextual ads for Movie Trailers”

“Hulu Has More Viewers Than 2nd Largest US Cable Company, Time Warner”

“RIM tops the 100 Fastest-Growing Companies 2009 ...defying the downturn”

As social media evolves, so do the responses, expectations and practices behind it.Everyone is trying to figure it out. Companies are trying to understand the immediate impacts to their businesses. Customers are becoming receptive to big brands willing to engage with them. The question whether Social Media is here to stay is one that is answered readily through the continuous development of technologies that create more seamless peer to peer interactions; the allowance of individual IDs connecting across multiple platforms; the dominance of share technologies through open source; and the strong adoption of leading brands willing to jump into the fray and test social’s strength.

Isobar: Our Strength in Social Media

We are bloggers and social networkers by nature. We love technology. We understand social media and its inherent rules of engagement. We build relationships in this space and stay connected personally and professionally.

We help clients navigate through complexities of this medium and help them understand the strategic implications to their brand, their category, their products and their operations.

Through our proprietary technologies, we identify people who are talking about brands; where they’re talking; what they’re saying. We can tell whether there is a gap between how companies want their brands perceived and the actual consumer perception.

We help clients listen. We identify the most recent conversations and counsel clients how to respond. Through constant monitoring and engaging we will identify influencers and influencing conversations that ignite into strong advocates for client brands.

We will help clients develop a new mindset about social media and leverage deep insights to help inform marketing and operational strategies as they apply.

We are passionate aboutstimulating enduring brand conversations.

We go beyond the “buzz” to create relationships with the right influencers and consumers that result in long term loyalty and authentic advocacy for your brand.

Contact us:

Office: 416-682-3783Cell: 416-417-1708Hessie.jones@isobar.nethttp://twitter.com/hessiej

Hessie JonesVP, Social Media & Word of Mouth Marketing

Isobar North America