Stolen word for word from Arturo's blog
TCO is looking for a hungry digital native looking to get experience working with some of Australia’s top brands – think Fosters, Westfield, Art Series Hotel Group and Coca Cola, to name but a few - in the exciting world of social media marketing.
You’ll be working alongside some of the brightest little brains this side of the sun, being the kids at TCO, specialists in strategic thinking and idea generation across content, human experience, both offline and right through the digital eco system.
Specifically, we’re looking for a bright and passionate intern to support our Digital Strategy team. As the Social Media Coordinator, your role will be to coordinate social media campaigns, blogger outreach, Facebook community management, measuring and reporting. You’ll also be involved in digital strategy and idea generation.
Sound good so far? Hungry yet? You better be. Start pimping your Facebook and better get a Twitter account because they will be scrutinised. Got a Tumblr, your own blog, Flickr account, Foursquare mayor of everywhere, you can see where we’re headed with this right?
You get to hang out with us one day per week for 3 months. Note the position is unpaid but you will get props galore.
To apply, email your CV and a photo to hr@theconscience.org. Better yet build a CV online, mail us a life size photo of you hanging out with some dinosaurs, PDF a deck of why you should be our ninja … show us why you want this so bad.
When was the first time you saw an SMS?
I think out of all the technology that has come along, SMS melted my brain the most.
I was about 11 years old and at a Scout Camp. We were just getting ready for bed when one of my scout leaders got his phone out and was using it to send messages to another of the leaders in another tent. I remember they were using it like an online chat, every 2 minutes a new message would come through. The whole thing spun my head out, how could they send text via mobile phones!?!?!
I wonder if any technology will ever leave me as dumb founded as SMS.
Do kids still write 'WB' at the end of messages?
CHAT ROULETTE : New Social Media Marketing Landscape for Brands?
This is a guest post by Grace Gordon the Marketing Manager/Digital Ninja at Socialista Media.
Grace meeting her long lost twin on Roulette
It was only a matter of time before more daring brands turned to the 90’s-esque Online chat phenomenon, Chatroulette as an unchartered terrain of marketing activity. In recent weeks we are starting to see the first glimpses of these amongst brands in the edgy youth / fashion segment.
Last week I received a Press email from irreverent fashion eyewear brand SABRE that stood out: it involved a call to get involved in a Chatroulette “Creep Roulette” competition. The premise is simple: Send through your creepiest SABRE-related Chatroulette screenshot, win some free sunglasses. You can check out the details on that here.
Only days later I discovered that French fashion label FCUK have also launched a Chatroulette challenge, offering up $250 worth of free FCUK goodies for those savvy social media dudes who manage to “charm a woman on Chatroulette”. You can read more about the challenge here, and check out the attempts thusfar.
There has been a fair amount of debate already even in these early days, about the suitability of Chatroulette for marketing activity. I do believe both of these competitions are cleverly-executed forays into Chatroulette as a space for brands. I have read many bloggers and bonafide Marketing practitioners alike argue that Chatroulette is not worth the time invested, due to the fact it is a one-on-one interaction and therefore cannot reach a mass audience. However, these competitions tap into the reach of Chatroulette beyond the one-one-one connection of users, by prompting users to screenshot their activity and share it with the brand (and, no doubt, as a flow on effect, their friends also, via multiple other social media channels). The end result is in effect, branded meme-like content. The activity at this Early Adopter stage has also helped to position the brands as edgy purveyors of cultural phenomenons (such as Chatroulette), which is not something that is easy to pull off, and an invaluable quality for a young lifestyle or fashion brand.
My kudos go out to these brands for using Chatroulette in a cheeky and daring way. What are your thoughts?
It was only a matter of time before more daring brands turned to the 90’s-esque Online chat phenomenon, Chatroulette as an unchartered terrain of marketing activity. In recent weeks we are starting to see the first glimpses of these amongst brands in the edgy youth / fashion segment.
Last week I received a Press email from irreverent fashion eyewear brand SABRE that stood out: it involved a call to get involved in a Chatroulette “Creep Roulette” competition. The premise is simple: Send through your creepiest SABRE-related Chatroulette screenshot, win some free sunglasses. You can check out the details on that here.
Only days later I discovered that French fashion label FCUK have also launched a Chatroulette challenge, offering up $250 worth of free FCUK goodies for those savvy social media dudes who manage to “charm a woman on Chatroulette”. You can read more about the challenge here, and check out the attempts thusfar.
There has been a fair amount of debate already even in these early days, about the suitability of Chatroulette for marketing activity. I do believe both of these competitions are cleverly-executed forays into Chatroulette as a space for brands. I have read many bloggers and bonafide Marketing practitioners alike argue that Chatroulette is not worth the time invested, due to the fact it is a one-on-one interaction and therefore cannot reach a mass audience. However, these competitions tap into the reach of Chatroulette beyond the one-one-one connection of users, by prompting users to screenshot their activity and share it with the brand (and, no doubt, as a flow on effect, their friends also, via multiple other social media channels). The end result is in effect, branded meme-like content. The activity at this Early Adopter stage has also helped to position the brands as edgy purveyors of cultural phenomenons (such as Chatroulette), which is not something that is easy to pull off, and an invaluable quality for a young lifestyle or fashion brand.
My kudos go out to these brands for using Chatroulette in a cheeky and daring way. What are your thoughts?
Dreamteam increasing Social Glue
Sport and music have to be the best social glue going around.
Professional Sport can help to make complete strangers friends. At the end of day friendships are formed on how many interactions you have with a person and how positive these experiences are. Sport gives us a reason to have more interactions with someone. For instance following the Parramatta Eels, I have become a lot closer with people who follow the Eels or take an interest in NRL.
This year I have jumped on the Dreamteam/Fantasy Football bandwagon. It has taken watching and discussing the sport to a whole new level.
What if brands could play this role? Brands could increase the social glue between two friends. I think Red Bull did this well for awhile with the game Rooshambull on Facebook.
It is interesting to note that Dreamteam/Fantasy Football is already becoming a subject in itself with break off sites discussing the strategy of picking a Dreamteam. In particular, for AFL DT Talk have created a site which is being sponsored by Boags Draught at the moment.
They have also recruited one of the most talented Australian Youtubers, Alex Williamson.
Facebook Newsfeed Optimisation (FNO)
The homepage/newsfeed is the holy grail of Facebook for Branded Pages. However for a lot of Branded Pages their information doesn't get to fans feeds because of the Facebook Newsfeed Algorithm. Because there is so much information Facebook tries to make the feed as relevant to you as possible. They work out relevancy using three criteria.
1. How many friends are commenting on a certain piece of content - This is how many people out of your networks have become friends with the Page, the more people the better. I have also observed that the story can come up in your news feed multiple times as more people join.
2. Who posted the content (how many interactions have you had with them in the past) - The more times someone visits your Page the more chance you have of getting
3. What type of content it is (e.g. photo, video, or status update). As far as I can tell they preference joining Pages and Pictures rank pretty high whereas joining Groups and commenting on Pages or Status updates from Pages is not as highly valued.
If anyone has anymore information on FNO, please feel free to share.
Finding my Ted – Introducing Arturo Escartin
I am super excited to say that my quest to find my partner in crime/ digital producer has ended, connecting me to one of the people I have admired for awhile online, Arturo Escartin (@kripy and one of the Brown Cardigan head honchos).
TCO and I are very lucky to have such a creative and knowledgeable person joining the team. Arturo comes from Modular Records where he was the Digital Manager and helped create their new website and also worked on a number of other projects including building and content managing the VRaw project. Watch this space for some kick arse work that we will be creating in the upcoming months.
We will be looking in the not to distant future for a Junior Digital Strategist/Community Manager to be joining our emerging digital team, so if you know anyone who would be suitable let me know.
What TCO have been up to!
I still get a lot of people asking me about my new work place, TCO (The Conscience Organisation). People have either heard of them but don’t know what they do or have never heard of them at all. Here is a great wrap video that they have done to show off their work from 2009! Check it!
50,000 in 2 weeks on Secret Melbourne
So two weeks ago I set up Secret Melbourne and Sydney Facebook Pages, I did this after seeing the success of the Secret London. I set the Pages up and then invited my friends from the cities to join the Pages. I invited 400 people from Melbourne and 100 to the Sydney Page.
I had the most success with the Melbourne Page it took off and within a day I had 500 fans. The viral growth was amazing to see, it just shows the power of the news feed in helping Pages spread.
I think the Sydney Page didn’t grow for a number of reasons. Firstly, there was already a Secret Sydney Group which had been running for 5 days and had got a number of the key target market joining the Group, also Melbourne has a culture of small restaurants and bars which Sydney is still working on.
Work is hectic at the moment however I promise I will do a more in depth post on learnings from running the Page soon.
But for the time being here are some stats off the backend of the Secret Melbourne Page
For Sheps
AIMIA Future of Viral and Word of Mouth
I am Moderating the AIMIA Future of Viral and Word of Mouth Marketing event next Friday, February 26th (tickets still available here). It has got a number of really smart people from the industry speaking including Sharyn Smith, CEO of Soup
Soup continue to do really good work in the converging area of social media and WOM. I saw Sharyn speak at last years Ad:Tech around a case study they had for Toohey Extra Dry. It was amazing how much they were integrating Facebook into their campaigns back then and I am sure they have come leaps and bounds since then.
Other speakers include - Rebekah Campbell, Owner/founder of posse.com, Vicki Foster, Director of The Word of Mouth Company, Mick Liubinskas, co-founder of Pollenizer
Soup continue to do really good work in the converging area of social media and WOM. I saw Sharyn speak at last years Ad:Tech around a case study they had for Toohey Extra Dry. It was amazing how much they were integrating Facebook into their campaigns back then and I am sure they have come leaps and bounds since then.
Other speakers include - Rebekah Campbell, Owner/founder of posse.com, Vicki Foster, Director of The Word of Mouth Company, Mick Liubinskas, co-founder of Pollenizer
My proudest day on the internet, being the Guest Editor for Youtube
My Youtube Gold dreams have come true. A representative from Youtube got in touch with me yesterday and asked if I would like to be a Guest Editor for Youtube. I am pretty much in internet nirvana right now. I am thinking that I am going to showcase the best Australian branded content pieces.
Some classics like Drambuie Market Research
Would be great if you could share any classic Australian virals/branded entertainment videos that I may of missed out on (especially if they are funny). If I do not get enough I might have to look to Kiwiland for other classics (e.g 42Below, Floating Ford and History of Stubbies)
List at the moment
Vanilla Ice Say Sorry
Uzbekistan extreme training
Schweppes Signs
Sony vs. Bravia
Carlton Draught Big Ad
Some classics like Drambuie Market Research
Would be great if you could share any classic Australian virals/branded entertainment videos that I may of missed out on (especially if they are funny). If I do not get enough I might have to look to Kiwiland for other classics (e.g 42Below, Floating Ford and History of Stubbies)
List at the moment
Vanilla Ice Say Sorry
Uzbekistan extreme training
Schweppes Signs
Sony vs. Bravia
Carlton Draught Big Ad
Twitter will not go mainstream
I use Twitter but I am in the minority. Twitter will not be the next Facebook. It is all hype.
Only 17% of Twitter users are active according to RJ Metrics. That would make the Australian active audience for Twitter around 136,000. 80% of Twitter users have made less than 10 updates.
Even the tech hungry teens don't like it. According to Pew Research 8% of internet users aged 12-17 use Twitter. This makes Twitter as common among teens as visiting a virtual world, and far less common than sending or receiving text messages as 66% of teens do, or going online for news and political information, done by 62% of online teens.
Twitter is not the next Facebook. According to Neilsen In October, Australian users spent 27.2 hours browsing online and 7.55 hours of the total was sucked up by Facebook whereas Twitter accounted for 17 minutes. Twitter's active Australian user base is the equivalent of less than 2% of Facebook's Australia audience.
When you hit a creative brick wall, use Facebook Search
Feeling dry on insights and territories for a creative brief? This is a good one to try, type related words into Facebook.
E.g Got a Phone provider as a client, type 'phone' into Search and look through the Pages. All these Pages have more than 500,000 fans.
The answers;
I Feel My Phone Vibrate When It Doesn't
I Use My Cell Phone To See In The Dark
When DRUNK, My phone should say, "Are you sure you want to send this text?"
I do random things when i talk on the phone like pace, spin in circles, etc
Trying to feel for your phone, and panicking when you can't feel it.
I have texted while lying down and dropped the phone on my face.
Specific one for Optus
Wait Bro are you on Optus
E.g Got a Phone provider as a client, type 'phone' into Search and look through the Pages. All these Pages have more than 500,000 fans.
The answers;
I Feel My Phone Vibrate When It Doesn't
I Use My Cell Phone To See In The Dark
When DRUNK, My phone should say, "Are you sure you want to send this text?"
I do random things when i talk on the phone like pace, spin in circles, etc
Trying to feel for your phone, and panicking when you can't feel it.
I have texted while lying down and dropped the phone on my face.
Specific one for Optus
Wait Bro are you on Optus
5 rising stars of the Australian Youtube scene
Here are five vloggers who have broken into the Top 20 most subscribed Australian Youtubers that you may not be familiar with.
1. Fagottron - Probably one of the most exciting Australian Youtubers, Fagottron has a unique way of mashing up films into songs. Amazeballs!
2. Mychoony - The male version of Community Channel.
3. The Black Year – This young band are going for the position of the next Short Stack
4. Emmalina - Vlogging every second day this 20s mum is talking about the first thing that pops into her mind.
5. DJ Ravine – Is arguably the most subscribed hardcore DJ on Youtube. A young dude who is killing it and found a nice little niche for himself.
1. Fagottron - Probably one of the most exciting Australian Youtubers, Fagottron has a unique way of mashing up films into songs. Amazeballs!
2. Mychoony - The male version of Community Channel.
3. The Black Year – This young band are going for the position of the next Short Stack
4. Emmalina - Vlogging every second day this 20s mum is talking about the first thing that pops into her mind.
5. DJ Ravine – Is arguably the most subscribed hardcore DJ on Youtube. A young dude who is killing it and found a nice little niche for himself.
Guest Post by Grace Gordon - Sportsgirl Fashion Blogger Outreach
Grace Gordon is the Marketing and Community Coordinator for Socialista Media Group which looks after the fashion social networking site 2Threads.
DISCLAIMER FROM THE "WRITER"
--this post was lifted directly from some pretty informal email banter between Julian and I, hence my ever-so-eloquent description and discussion of bloggers.
I’m not sure how it started/originated (it must have been a private call out to top Fash. Bloggers) but they have started a blogging game of ‘tag’/’it’ by tagging people who are ‘it’ to answer a few select questions. My 2 cents on why i think this is cool is................
A) They are giving the bloggers actual content that they can tweak and make unique which is awesome because as you know , bloggers run out of ideas and its good to have prompts like that.
B) They seem to have targeted a range of the very best, not just any old Australian fashion bloggers who have a high subscriber rate and/or attractive content which is likely to be reblogged and re-used and
C) If the exercise is purely to drive traffic back to the Sportsgirl site/get some sweet inbound links AND raise awareness of Sportsgirl site as not just a retailers website but an actual fashion/entertainment portal, then they have nailed it. I have looked at the site three times since this ‘tagging’ thing started. I am liking their site which in turn leaves me lusting after their product. (I just bought something off their online store)
Exhibit A- http://www.leflassh.com/2010/01/sportsgirl-tag.html - you’ll see she has tagged other bloggers, creating a viral effect if they respond.
Exhibit B- http://studdedhearts.blogspot.com/2010/01/sportsgirltag.html
Exhibit C - http://src783.blogspot.com/2010/01/sportsgirl-heart.html
3 important changes to Facebook
There have been some new amendments to Facebook that you may or may not be aware of.
Geolocate your status updates
Facebook now allows you to geolocate your status updates. This is a god sent for bands who want to target specific fans in the city they are touring in.
Impression Number
They are also telling you the level of interaction that are based on a loose number of impressions of the news item (Page Views, News Feeds or through a Fan Box Widget impression). I have crunched some numbers on the pages that I am Admin of and they range from a good interaction number of 1% to as low as 0.01%. What is everyone else getting?
Targetting Ad Units in real time
There is also a whisper that you will be able to start targeting people on words that they have in their status updates.
Geolocate your status updates
Facebook now allows you to geolocate your status updates. This is a god sent for bands who want to target specific fans in the city they are touring in.
Impression Number
They are also telling you the level of interaction that are based on a loose number of impressions of the news item (Page Views, News Feeds or through a Fan Box Widget impression). I have crunched some numbers on the pages that I am Admin of and they range from a good interaction number of 1% to as low as 0.01%. What is everyone else getting?
Targetting Ad Units in real time
There is also a whisper that you will be able to start targeting people on words that they have in their status updates.
Campfire as an analogy for Social Media
So I recently have been trying to come up with an analogy for social media. This idea of social media being like a campfire has really stuck for me. There are three things you need for a campfire, a campground, people and a fire.
These three things are similar to what makes up social media. For starters you need a platform for people to speak on e.g Facebook/Twitter (campground), you need members to populate this platform (people) and then something to talk about, a reason for being there (fire).
This also defines the three areas that brands can get involved, they can create the platform (Branded Community) – it can be as big as a whole website Pepsi refresh or jump on the back of another platform such as The Contender Page on Facebook.
They can be the members of the community (Customer Service) company can just listen to the conversations going down and then respond. e.g Big Pond Twitter account or Dell Hell
Lastly they can be the social glue (social idea) between two people, the reason they talk e.g iSpyLevis or Dove Inner Beauty.
Thoughts?
Do you know the name of this Facebook viral marketing method?
Status Updates and Wall Comments would be two ways that Word of Mouth are occurring on Facebook. What do you call all other types of message spreading that is occurring on the site.
Andrew Ranger and the Taboo Group have just recently launched a campaign for Where Is called Whereis the party, they got the word out there by tagging influential Melbournites in the promotional advertisement for the event.
Ikea used this same type of viral spreading but instead of them tagging they asked the punters to tag themselves in photos in the Ikea Furniture competition.
Andrew Ranger and the Taboo Group have just recently launched a campaign for Where Is called Whereis the party, they got the word out there by tagging influential Melbournites in the promotional advertisement for the event.
Ikea used this same type of viral spreading but instead of them tagging they asked the punters to tag themselves in photos in the Ikea Furniture competition.
Looking for my Keanu Reeves/Digital Producer
You cannot have Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure without Bill. Similarly, You cannot produce truly kick arse work without an amazing Digital Producer. I am a big believer in the Producer/Strategist combination and at the moment I am missing my other half. Hence, we have officially put the call out to find a Digital Producer who I can collaborate with along with the rest of the team to make some killer work.
I am super excited about finding a Producer to join TCO as I believe we are on the brink of making some really great work.
The perfect storm is brewing at TCO, we have got an amazing client roster (Fosters, Coca-Cola, Westfield, Network Ten, Sony) who all seem keen on exploring social/digital ideas. The most exciting proposition though is coming up with the Global Digital/Social Strategy for Global Poverty Project.
The thing that hooked me though, was the core business offering – TCO make branded entertainment. Their first piece of business was creating the television show Coke Live n Local. Since then they have nailed creating video content. They have added a real strength in experiential, cracking some massive wins over the last year.
Having this muscle in your back pocket when you are coming up with ideas is something of a rarity in the Australian market. Where before the thought of creating an online series like Fansformation or creating a viral piece like Sony vs. PS3 would have been a dream, This is what TCO do.
The Producer, we are looking for is someone who will have a creative mind and who will have a nice big fat contact book full of all the best digital freelancers/shops in Sydney to help make things happen.
The full JD is on the site
For everyone who reads this blog, if you could please pass this onto any Producers that would be right for this position that would be much appreciated.
Summer of Awesome
I was lucky enough to get 5 weeks holidays between jobs this summer. I got down to Meredith Music Festival in Melbourne for three days.
Then went off to India (Kerala and Goa) for 11 days
Followed by Pyramid Rock Festival
I read the following books
Marching Powder - Jaw dropping account about Bolivian Jails, quite an easy read.
The Google Story - It is amazing how much a University culture has affected, the culture that was created at Google.
I have just started Rich Dad, Poor Dad – it looks really interesting.
Anyways in terms of interwebs and marketing, I read a good summation of 2010 trends by my ol mate Ash Ringrose and the guys at SOAP.
I wrote my thoughts about the future of digital/social media in Australia in 2010, I wrote a piece for Ben Shpeherd’s blog. Congrats to Ben who also deservedly won the Mumbrella Industry Blog of the year. I was stoked to be shortlisted for it.
I will also be writing some guest posts for Mark Pollard and a book review for Daniel Oyston in the upcoming month, look out for them.
Then went off to India (Kerala and Goa) for 11 days
Followed by Pyramid Rock Festival
I read the following books
Marching Powder - Jaw dropping account about Bolivian Jails, quite an easy read.
The Google Story - It is amazing how much a University culture has affected, the culture that was created at Google.
I have just started Rich Dad, Poor Dad – it looks really interesting.
Anyways in terms of interwebs and marketing, I read a good summation of 2010 trends by my ol mate Ash Ringrose and the guys at SOAP.
Soap's 2010 Predictions
View more presentations from Soap Creative.
I wrote my thoughts about the future of digital/social media in Australia in 2010, I wrote a piece for Ben Shpeherd’s blog. Congrats to Ben who also deservedly won the Mumbrella Industry Blog of the year. I was stoked to be shortlisted for it.
I will also be writing some guest posts for Mark Pollard and a book review for Daniel Oyston in the upcoming month, look out for them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
