Analyst Angle: Social Marketing and Adding Mobile to the Mix

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our Monday feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Current Analysis’ Avi Greengart, iGR’s Iain Gillot and more.
JupiterResearch broadly defines social marketing as the generation of (or forwarding of, or engagement with) content associated with a brand and its attributes by consumers. Nearly one in five marketers employs social marketing tactics today with an even higher percentage is planning to do so in the next 12 months. Typically marketers utilize social marketing to appeal to a younger, tech-savvy audience as well as to increase awareness or buzz around their brand or a new product.
I can provide a personal example to make this concept more tangible. I’ve spent the better part of the summer participating in a social marketing program being run by Toyota called Engines of Change. They are leveraging social marketing tactics to promote core attributes (e.g., fuel, emissions, performance and quiet) of their hybrid vehicles such as the Prius. They decided to sponsor endurance athletes as part of the program because they want tangible examples of people who strive to make a difference in their own lives-the same philosophy to which Toyota is also committed with their hybrid vehicles. The athletes upload photos (I take photos with my cellphone) and race stories associated with these attributes to a microsite that they have developed especially for this program. By combining these personal stories around training and achievement with a few professional tips, Toyota is creating a destination interesting to their target audience while also building an influential audience (the athletes) who will spread the word to their family and friends.
Cellphones are playing an increasingly important role in these campaigns as they are evolving into one of the primary devices used to create content. Higher-quality cameras on cellphones have created new opportunities for cellphone users to capture content (e.g., photos, video) and post it directly to Web sites. According to a consumer survey of cellphone owners conducted by Jupiter, the percentage of cellphone owners posting photos to an online blog or photo-sharing site nearly tripled between the end of 2005 and the end of 2006. It’s still just a few percent today, but interest is growing. This trend is poised to accelerate with young adults citing a high-quality camera as the most important feature they seek in their next handset purchase. Phones with high-quality cameras such as the Nokia N95 or Sony Ericsson’s Cyber-shot series will be an enabler of high-quality photos.
One of the more impressive case studies I’ve come across of the cellphone being used in a social marketing context is Ashley Tisdale’s debut album, “Headstrong.” She used a handset equipped with technology from ShoZu Inc. to create and post dozens of personal, behind-the-scenes videos. Her YouTube channel was ranked No. 5 in the music category for months. At the end of the first quarter of 2007, her videos had generated more than seven million views with an average of 225,000 views per clip. While this example didn’t explicitly include content created by fans, a contest such as “make your own video” would be an excellent addition.
Marketers can leverage existing online social networking sites (e.g., MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Bebo, etc.) or mobile-only networks (e.g., Jaiku, Kyte, Twitter, Zannel, etc.) or they can host photos and posts on a microsite dedicated to the specific campaign. Marketers today actually prefer blogs to creating profiles on social networking sites as it provides them with a more controlled environment. When they do so, however, they need to utilize incentives (e.g., sweepstakes) to drive traffic to their sites.
Coca Cola combined mobile with a microsite when they launched their mobile-centric social network called the Sprite Yard earlier this summer. The campaign is designed to drive both engagement and sales. PIN codes found under bottle caps “unlock” content while the site allows users to share posts, photos and “shouts.” Consumption of the beverage drives traffic. Most of the content sharing and consumption is on cellphones, but there is a companion Web site.
Mobile is a natural complement to social marketing. Cellphones allow the spontaneous capture of images and sounds which allows frequent posts to Web sites keeping the content fresh while also facilitating the viral distribution of content to other cellphones. In the near term, cellphones are likely to complement social networks rather than replace them.
Marketers should keep a number of best practices in mind when looking to leverage cellphones within social marketing campaigns.
–Know your target audience. Consumers who frequent social media sites skew young and tech-savvy. In Toyota’s case, their goal of reaching environmentally conscious consumers fit well with this campaign as this group shares many of the same attributes. Use of mobile also syncs well with this audience as younger cellphone users are heavier users of text messaging and mobile applications.
–Recruit “new influentials” to increase buzz. My colleague Emily Riley coined the term “new influentials” and identified them as being a core component of social marketing campaigns. New influentials act as catalysts for marketers at the upper end of the purchase funnel by helping to drive brand awareness by building buzz through their own postings on blogs. They are attracted to engaging activities, content creation, breaking or insider information and sweepstakes. Just remember that their primary strength is their willingness to forward messages to friends, so make your campaign as viral friendly as possible.
–Consumers are twice as likely to trust information found on a company Web site as they are on a social networking site. Leverage a microsite for hosting and presenting user-generated content, but be sure to attract the expert consumers to encourage more interesting content creation (New influentials are active posters and forwarders, but not always product experts). Remember, it can be difficult to drive traffic, so accompany the microsite with a search campaign and some general media buying.
–Offer social- and product-engagement elements on the microsite. Toyota has achieved this by combining training and fitness advice with their product messaging. Readers engage with the brand attributes indirectly through training tips and athlete blogs. It doesn’t serve their entire target audience, but does attract one of the more lucrative niche audiences.
–Choose appropriate products. Some products inspire more content creation than others. If the product doesn’t inspire consumers on its own, it’s a good idea to attach the brand (as Toyota has done) to something that does inspire consumers such as music or sports.
–Utilize viral tactics such as e-mail and widgets to encourage users to share content and product messaging.
–Encourage content posting via cellphones. Allow your new influentials (i.e., brand advocates) to post photos and videos directly from their cellphones. These content creators are highly engaged in media and social interaction online. Advertisers can take full advantage of these advocates by incorporating audio and video into their microsites.
Turning back to Toyotas Engines of Change program, I now carry a cellphone with me when I do events. Just a couple of years ago, I could hardly imagine posting photos from my cellphone during a live event. Now it seems like the most natural thing to do, and I really have a lot of fun with it.
Co-authored by JupiterResearch analysts, Julie Ask and Emily Riley. Emily Riley is JupiterResearch’s lead online advertising and marketing analyst in the United States. She specializes in social marketing. Julie Ask is a vice president and lead wireless analyst for JupiterResearch. Questions or comments about this column? Please e-mail Julie at jask@jupiterresearch.com or RCR Wireless News at rcrwebhelp@crain.com.