Justin Bieber and his management team are some of the smartest people going around at the moment.
Justin started out posting dozens of homemade videos on YouTube in 2007, he racked up over 10,000,000 views doing covers of famous artist. This was purely from word of mouth. He then got signed by Usher and Island Records and has become the biggest thing to hit teens since Twilight. via Wikipedia
Hypebot wrote this amazing post on why Justin Bieber is so big.
Basically he sipping on the Lil Wayne syrup of – ‘Release more songs, more often.’ He has been in the eye of teenage girls for the last year releasing new material every month, be it a new song or video. He never turns off.
A couple of the other points of interest from the article, about Justin's songs, such as:
• Short Intros - the longest intro to one of his songs is 14 seconds, but "One Time" is only 7 seconds before it gets to the meat of the song. Always a good thing if you want to your song to chart.
• Chord Changes - There's not a lot of changes in his songs but according to Frank, they happen when it counts - at around the 2 minute mark. This is just about the time that a bridge would enter, so it makes sense. Good songs tend to have a bridge.
• Repetition - If you want to chart, repeat the title over and over. In fact, in his hit "One Time," Bieber repeats the title 32 times in the song and the word "one" another 17. via Bobby
Endorsed by the established
One of the other things that has stood out for me is his alignment with established artists. He has collaborated with Ludacris, Usher, Taylor Swift, Sean Kingston, Nick Cannon, Drake, P.Diddy, Wyclef Jean, Asher Roth and gets the endorsement from The Game?!!?
Hidden Talents
The boy can Rap
On Sunrise the other day and rapped Ludacris’ whole verse, this is a rapper who has been rapping for 20 years and Bieber puts it down with no trouble.
Comedian
For April Fools Justin Bieber took over Funny or Die and renamed it Bieber or Die, I was genuinely surprised I thought he was going to be average but he is actually quite funny.
Who cares if he is a one hit wonder? He has absolutely nailed it, with this one album. This boy is pretty much owning at the game of life and I take my hat off to him.
Kate's Party - Meme jumping for money
You may have got a Facebook invite to Kate’s birthday over the weekend.
According to ericritic
‘What was supposed to turn out to be a small birthday party for a woman named Kate at her small apartment is turning out to be an event of the century. That’s because over 60,000 (as of this writing) random Facebook users have taken it upon themselves to invite themselves to Kate’s party.
The event’s description now reads:
“WTF??????????
WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE? WHY ARE THERE 10000 PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN INVITED??????
THIS IS A PRIVATE PARTY AT OUR APARTMENT.”
Tons of groups are forming related to Kate’s birthday party, including: Which Turban should I wear to Kate’s party?, Who needs a ride to Kate’s party?, and best of all: Who in the hell is Kate?’
Meme Jumping
I think it is interesting the people that jump on the back of these memes and try to make some quick money of them. Kate’s Party is a good example of this. The model is simple, catch the trend, secure the most SEO friendly URL, publish a little bit of relevant content and set up the advertising on the site.
The new 4Channers?
Facebook users are getting a better understanding of the platform now and with this knowledge they are better able to play pranks and have a laugh. Expect to see more of these style memes start to pop up. It is very 4chan-esque.
Update: I have it on good word from Asher Moses that David Thorne of 27b/6 fame (Spider Drawing and Dear Neighbour) is behind this prank. Amazing!
The effect of ‘fan’ to ‘like’ on Facebook Ads
Which one of the following three is an ad for a Facebook Page?
It is near impossible to figure out which is an ad for a Page or an external website.
If you are running Facebook ads prepare to see a decrease in action rate (how many people become a fan without clicking through to the site). The action rate accounts for about 70% of your fan growth, with the rest coming from people who check out the site and then fan or get an update in their newsfeed.
I can understand why Facebook did this because they realized the language is not right, you do not become a fan of KFC, you become a fan of a Sportsteam, you like KFC. However calling it a ‘like’ which is the same as the rest of the external ads on the site seriously effects the amount of people who will click on those ads or the direct fan action that we used to see.
I have got some live campaigns running at the moment, so I will let you know if I see an effect.
Illegal Facebook Promotions
The following activity is illegal on Facebook and could result in your page being permanently deleted by Facebook;
A promotion that requires a user to;
- tag themselves in the photo.
- to change their status in any way
- to change their profile picture
- to answer a question in a status update
- any kind of response in the status
- like a photo or an update
- add friends
- respond with a photo not in a specific application
All promotions need to run through an application that does not use any of the basic functionality of Facebook.
However, I have not heard of any Brand Pages being deleted for this type of activity. I am not game enough to take any chances though.
A promotion that requires a user to;
- tag themselves in the photo.
- to change their status in any way
- to change their profile picture
- to answer a question in a status update
- any kind of response in the status
- like a photo or an update
- add friends
- respond with a photo not in a specific application
All promotions need to run through an application that does not use any of the basic functionality of Facebook.
However, I have not heard of any Brand Pages being deleted for this type of activity. I am not game enough to take any chances though.
Types of media - owned, earned and bought media
I thought I would just do a quick post on something that is pretty much owning my working life at the moment. Bought, Owned and Earned Media.
Simply put these are the three ways that content is getting passed on for brands.
Bought Media – Buying adspace off publishers with audiences! E.g Banners
Earned Media – Media that your audience pass on for you, think passing on a youtube clip/article to a friend. E.g Viral Video
Owned Media – Are a brands direct channels with their consumers, this could be their email database, Facebook Page or employees
2010 has really brought Owned and Earned Media to the fore.
Owned Media
The biggest effect for Owned Media has been the introduction of Facebook Branded Pages, brands are now getting scale and audience which are rivaling their bought media channels. Other smaller brands that didn’t even have email databases are going straight for these channels.
Earned Media
A lot of people think that earned media is something that brands cannot control. It is up to the quality of the content. Wrong. Getting to the front page of Digg, the most viewed clip on Youtube or on a highly trafficked blog is not a fluke for a number of agencies but now a product that they are selling. Understanding and having the relationships to hit these earned media sweet spots is becoming a valuable commodity in this market.
Here is a great post on Mashable on Social Objects and Earned/Bought and Owned Media
Carsales AFL/NRL iPhone App – The 3 stages brands can get involved with Properties
I recently saw that Carsales have sponsored Rugby Live (NRL) and Footy Live (AFL) iPhone Applications. Last year the applications were selling for $1.19 in the App Store and is now free.
CarSales have also made a number of improvements to the app which have made it the closest thing to having Rex Hunt/Ray Warren in your pocket.
This got me thinking about brands sponsoring properties. I really think that there is three distinct times that brands can get involved with a property. When I say property I mean an idea, artist, product, event, sport, application, meme.
Embryonic Stage
This is where a brand can come up with a property or get involved with a property before it launches.
Positive – The brand is intrinsically linked to the property from the start
Negative - Higher risk, if the property is a flop, they have invested a lot of money in the idea.
Example – Rexona Ultimate Athlete,– V Festival
Infancy stage
Brands have identified the property on their radar and get involved with the property after it has had a small amount of success.
Positive – Chance to get involved and linked to the product before it hits a critical mass
Negative – Property may be seen as selling out
- May have hit its peak without the brand knowing it.
Examples – CarSales Footy Live, RedBull Air Race
Maturity Stage
This usually looks like a sponsorship of an established property. The brand does not get a lot of involvement in shaping the property.
Positive – Lowered risk of reaching the desired audience as the property is established and they have good knowledge of the size and type of people who are involved with their property.
Negative – The brand has to fight hard to define how they are adding value to the property otherwise consumers may only see it as a marketing activity
- There is usually a number of brands that are involved with the property so clutter and cut through are an issue.
Examples
Toyota AFL, KFC Cricket
Wanted: Social Media Marketing Intern/Bro/Sis
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.
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.
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