Grown Up Thinking

Since last year, the University of Southern California has been using Foursquare to foster a sense of campus community by embracing everything from venues and specials to tips and lists. With over 18,000 followers and 135,000 check-ins to date, USC’s adoption of the location-based social platform has proven that Foursquare can do so much more than dish out badges.

In this case study we see a traditional institution proactively reach students in a way that resonates with them. True, our Class of 2015 study tells us only 12% of college students are on Foursquare. However, with the right formula and a little innovation, USC has proven that Foursquare can thrive among college students when used in a way that benefits them. Bucket list for seniors? Campus event updates? Bookstore discounts? Yes, please.

USC isn’t the only university jumping on the Foursquare bandwagon, and it’s not “new news” either. Last year Foursquare forged a relationship with 20 universities across the country to, as the Foursquare blog says, help “students, alumni, and staff connect with each other, find new and interesting things to do, and earn rewards for exploring their campus and nearby areas.”

So, on your next trip to SoCal be sure to take the virtual campus tour via Foursquare and check into at least five spots along the way. This could earn you some sweet campus swag and maybe even the True Trojan badge!

We are the Mr Youth interns. In honor of Social Media Day last Thursday we are sharing our POV on the good life of YouthNation, the present and future of social media, and whatever else crosses our young, millennial minds in 140 characters or less:

- Elizabeth C: Social media icon sheets & comforters will replace dinosaurs and rocket ships.

- Kara B: #D0M!N@T!0N

- Jon I: Some people think the internet is ruining are ability to comunikate, but I think we’re just fien. The future is #social.

- Thomas S: I am not witty enough for this, I defer to the Twitterverse.

- Vinny S: Emoticon Media, The future of Social: – A typical day.

- Annie D: Social media helps to engage the brand and the customer through dynamic, interactive, and unique experiences (games, applications and videos).

- Lauren F: I have a feeling Facebook is going to lose its spark soon. The site has lost its simplicity and exclusivity, #unlike.

- Alison W: SM lets me stalk a dog named Boo on Facebook, tweet at Barack Obama and keep in touch with my grandma in Florida #EndlessPossibilities…

- Adam P: In the modern battle of David versus Goliath, social media is the slingshot.

- Alexa D: Rule #76.5: Social Media plays like a champion.

We want to hear your musings on social.  Tell us in the comments!

This Thursday is National Social Media Day! With only two days left to prepare, how will you celebrate? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

- Pick a social media personality and claim it for the day. I recommend being the Fail Whale or the crying Foursquare girl with the crown  Make sure you dress to fit your part like this guy!

- Set some resolutions for the next year of social media. Example: “I will tweet more often because I haven’t in months” or “I will tweet less often because my friends want to slap me.”

- Make a video and upload it on YouTube. Need ideas? Start simple with a demonstrative speech – like how to make a sandwich, how to make a scene at work, or how to make a grown man cry.

- Get your favorite social media infographic and make it your desktop background. Like this one.

- Throw an internet meme party. I will make my friends wear narwhal horn party hats (and bring my pet narwhal), dress as chubby bubbles girl, put Double Dream Hands on repeat, Ice all the bros in attendance, and insert photo bomb seal into all of the party pics (which I will then make into animated gifs). Friday will be boycotted, though, since it will only be Thursday…

Happy Social Media Day to you and yours! Tell us what you’re scheming for the big day.

Of all the new ads, ideas, articles, videos, and trends we sift through every day, these are the fun nuggets that stuck with us last week:

- The Oxford Dictionary is the most generous in adding Internet jargon to the official English language. Check out the list of last month’s new additions, my favorites being: baby bump, bestie, infographic, meep, newb, social graph, and ZOMG.

- Axe Sprayaway lets you remove what you think stinks on the web. Negative YouTube comment? New pic of your arch nemesis on Facebook? Opinion you don’t agree with and want to lash out against in a non-threatening way? Make yourself feel better with this fun tool.

- This conceptual work for UNICEF, done by students at the Miami Ad School, poses a new way to contribute funds to education by donating your misspelled words. A very creative and inspiring concept.

- The launch of the Tweet Button adds an easier way to embed Twitter into your sites with options to show the number of times the item has been tweeted and preload mentions.

- The Intel® Museum of Me is our favorite rendition of the myriad “social history” tools we’ve seen.  Beautiful and well done.

- Improv Everywhere did a great stunt called “Gotta Share” – it gives the flashmob a facelift and has all the social media rhyming words we could ask for

What’s floating your boat this week?

Mayor Bloomberg tweeted yesterday that the roadmap to make New York the number one digital city has been published. Called “Achieving New York City’s Digital Future” the report is over 60 pages of present situation, public feedback and data, and what’s in store for NYC.

I strongly encourage poring over the whole report, which is beautiful and intriguing. Not only is it inspiring to live in a city championing to be the number one digitally, it is amazing that we live in a place where social is understood and leveraged to the public and the city’s benefit.

As a social marketing agency we were particularly appreciative that the City recognizes the importance of good social strategy. The report reads, “The City’s most successful social media strategies are goal-based, aligning with agency objectives from the start, and employing social media channels appropriate to their audience and desired outcomes.” Bravo.

New York is doing a lot already to foster the development of digital tools and an open government. Here are some fun snippets I didn’t know before reading:

- New York has six official apps. One is dedicated to finding free condoms based on location, and another offers sobriety tests and info on safe rides home. Go NYC.
- The NYC Big Apps (HAH!) competition provided city data to developers to create independent applications – there were over 100 developed using public API
- The Urban Canvas competition wrapped up and features 4 finalists whose designs can be downloaded by building owners to make scaffolding more appealing
- You can use the hashtag #askmike to get your question answered by the Mayor on his Friday radio show

As for what’s next, here are some highlights of the roadmap:

- A new Facebook presence will be unveiled during Internet Week featuring apps that support the open government infrastructure
- A Foursquare badge will be introduced by the City to incentivize residents to explore public places
- Implementation of a DataMine API that gives developers access to 350+ data sets including:

- Citywide Events and Festivals
- Wi-Fi HotSpot Locations
- Map of Playgrounds
- Bicycle Parking Locations
- Tree Census
- Art Gallery Locations
- Subway Entrances
- A hub for all New York City mobile apps
- The launch of geo-targeted mobile notification services for emergencies so you know what’s happening around you

What do you want to see in New York’s future?

According to a new Forrester Report, only 6% of 12- 17 year olds want to be friends with a brand on Facebook. This presents a major challenge, and opportunity, for brands when trying to interact with one of the most prized demo segments. The report goes on to state that the segment doesn’t think brands should be on social media and, if they do have a presence, should serve a passive role by listening and responding to their requests as they come up.

I say phooey. Well, to be clear, I think it’s incredibly important to listen to the segment and respond to their needs in social media but, more importantly, I think there’s fertile ground in social to proactively interact with them. I remember reading that Henry Ford once said something like “if I always followed my consumer research a car would have never been invented because they would have asked for a faster horse.”

I think the same approach should be applied to the 12 – 17 year olds in regards to how they engage with brands in social media. The challenge is determining how your brand can be relevant since, as we all know, all brands are unique. Some brands have an easier job than others – I’m talking to you Skittles – because what they offer is inherently sought after by 12 – 17 year olds. I mean, who didn’t like candy as a kid?

But for others, achieving relevance is more challenging which makes it that much more rewarding when you achieve it! And I’m not talking about the relevance from a marketer’s perspective. I’m talking about relevance from the 12 – 17 year old’s perspective which can be much different than the former.

In order to be relevant, gain Facebook fans and ultimately maintain ongoing interactions with this segment, brands must answer one very simple question: Why should I care about you, Brand XYZ?

Here are five ideas for how to achieve relevancy and make them care about your brand on Facebook.

1.       If humor aligns with your brand’s personality – USE IT. One time-tested approach that’s worked over and over with this segment is that they respond well to humor. This however, needs to be tied into your brand in a way that only you can use that humor.

2.       Add to the experience. This segment is primarily on social networks to stay connected with their offline friends and I guarantee that they’ll appreciate it if you help enrich that experience.

3.       Ask yourself “why do I think they should care about me?” Once you get that answer find a way to bring that to life while adhering to all the spoken and unspoken rules of social (that’s another post for another day) and this segment.

4.       Make their friends care. Cart before the horse, right? Well, kind of. But, if you can make groups of friends care than they will influence the rest. So, create ideas that micro-target groups of 12 – 17 year olds through interests that they might share.

5.       Get some FUN all up in here! Yes, it’s true they are primarily online to connect with friends but they also want to have FUN while doing it. Create a game for them to play – if done right, that will give you the ultimate level of interaction that all brand managers dream about.

Follow through with some of these ideas and you just might be welcomed into the exclusive 6% Club. Got any other ideas for how to reach this segment? Would love to hear them!

Very interesting panel this morning on how brands can be proactive and reactive to extinguish ASAP. Key takeaways:

- Come up with a strategy in the beginning – are you or are you not going to allow consumers to engage with you? Brands should really allow consumers to engage with them, but set ground rules up front so consumers know when their posts might be taken down.

- Absolutely use a suite of social listening tools so you can be proactive in detecting and addressing potential crises before they become detrimental.

- The most credible thing out there is consumers who jump in and help you solve your problems. Ideally consumer support should happen organically, you don’t want to have to rally. This will happen if you foster your consumer relationships and create consumer loyalty from the beginning.

- Everyone loves to write on a wall so that their feedback – positive and negative – can be broadcast. Know that creating a customer support tab will not stop this. Brands need to accomodate how their consumers want to provide feedback.

- If you have a specific call to action to “Like” a page when a consumer arrives there for the first time, the fan conversion jumps from around 25% to around 45%.

- DO NOT hire an intern to run your Facebook page. You need to have one experienced person who knows the social media ropes to run your page on a daily basis. It is a full time job that requires someone who knows your brand and consumers inside and out.

Panel information: http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP7900

I just sat in on a panel discussion hosted by Marci Ikeler, Director of Digital Strategy at Publicis. The focus was  on co-creating content in the social space and our need to adapt to real-time culture. As advertisers we strive to create ideas that will spread quickly among our audience. Ikeler says the key here is to adapt in real time and invite people to co-create in a way that’s comfortable to them without asking too much.

Marci says, “Whether you invite people into a community for co-creation or not, people are doing it on their own.” In the meme-tastic 4chan community, members can “bump” pieces of content as a way to self-select information they’re interested in. This is how members say they want to see more on this topic, and as Ikeler noted, “The best response you can get from your audience is that they want more.”

Will clients embrace a site like 4chan that can’t truly be regulated? She says they will because more and more things are being done in a crowdsourced way, advertisers will have to embrace that there will be content out there that’s off-brand.

So how do get consumers interested in produced or branded content when they could just go make it themselves? As one panel guest reminded us, “We as advertisers are the echo, not the boom.”

Ikeler talked through a few different strategies for effectively engaging your audience. “If you’re not creating ideas that develop naturally in a social environment it’s not going to work, you can’t just post any content in the social space and assume it will grow [...] Some videos aren’t as attuned to social spread and dialogue as more successful ones.”

Marci’s solution is micro-content: fast, small and sticky. Rather than coming up with a long-form, polished video, the most successfully social brands are posting micro-content more frequently. It can be risky to put that much content out there, but it allows advertisers to test which types of content and messaging will resonate best with their audience.

On January 28th we posted our POV on the social media blackout in Egypt. Social media played a remarkable role in the ability for revolutionaries to communicate and mobilize, and this is not the first instance where social enabled incredible change for a country and its people.

With knowledge of the political and cultural power of their sites the executives of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, and others have unique approaches to their resulting responsibility and democratic role.

Google isn’t afraid of taking sides. Becoming part of the revolution, they worked with Twitter to create Speak2Tweet, allowing the people in Egypt to skirt the online access restrictions. YouTube also played a role on behalf of the protesters by quickly curating submitted content to be shared with the world.

While it is unquestionable that Facebook knows their power as a tool for social change, there is no intention to partner with movements as Google and Twitter have done. In part this is a crucial stance on behalf of social justice. If Facebook promoted themselves as a tool for uprising or gave statements in support of this activity, the site would be blocked by some regimes in a precautionary attempt to avoid a repeat of Tunisia or Egypt.

Some advocates for human rights see this as a mistake (more on this specifically in this NY Times article). The trust and authenticity we find so appealing about Facebook can be devastating to citizens of more oppressive nations as it stems from the prohibition of false identities. Facebook’s response is always in defense of overall user protection, so this policy is not currently up for negotiation.

This does not mean that Facebook will idly stand by. Last month we all jumped on the security upgrade to prevent stolen passwords. This was Facebook’s response to actions taken by the Tunisian government, worded as a technical solution across the board for greater user security. Facebook has also shut down activist pages with falsified admin names, solidifying their stance against overall abuse to their terms.

All social media sites have been threaded into historical progress. What do you think of the differences between Google and Twitter putting themselves in the front line and Facebook sticking to the sidelines?

It’s that time of year again – Social Media Week has come and gone, leaving us with actionable insights and much anticipated information around our favorite social platforms. For those of you who missed it (or realized an iPad is not actually an effective note-taking device) here are some of the highlights that #SMW11 had to offer:

Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley’s Gives Us A Peek Into The Company’s Future Plans:

The most interesting revelation to come from @dens was the possibility of location-based recommendations. Whether users are in Soho or South Beach, Foursquare would be able to recommend new spots to dine or explore based on their previous check-ins.

The new feature could prove extremely valuable for users exploring unfamiliar territory, and with a recommendation engine that learns with users’ base activity much like Amazon’s intelligent recommendations engine, Foursquare would position itself with a unique value proposition in the increasingly cluttered sphere of location-based services. Foursquare’s social platform could become more utilitarian guiding the decision-making process of its users.

DOTGO’s Integrative Text Messaging Service:

Through a newly developed coding language called CMRL (Concise Message Routing Language), DOTGO is helping to create a two-way dialogue “that makes accessing concise, relevant, and useful content from any web site as easy as sending a text message.”

Why does this matter? DOTGO could prove to be an extremely valuable tool for marketers to reach young teens, parents, and other audiences who don’t have smartphones or other Internet-enabled mobile devices.

Focusing on the Content:

The main take-away over at Red Bull space was that content is king.  As brands especially in entertainment finally understand the benefit of growing their social media communities, they are also realizing the importance of providing a constant stream of truly engaging content to fans.

Even Mike Lazerow CEO of Buddy Media, who has built his business around providing clients with powerful tools to grow fan bases agrees that brands must strategically work to grow engaged quality fans hubs around meaningful conversations, causes and continuous content.

Furthermore, in an age where content is so widely available, brands must intelligently curate their own content across branded channels if they want to foster growth and engagement. If they fail to provide compelling content, fans will find other resources for discovery.

For those of you who missed the week and would like to gain further insight, most of the panels have been recorded via Livestream.  In addition, Sysomos has provided some interesting monitoring and analytics information from the global event.