Social Networking
The future of User Interface (UI) Design: Part 1.
As one of the digital thought leaders at Brogan & Partners, I was excited to attend this year's SXSW conference and see where the future of digital design was heading. Often, I feel like the "usability police" and for years I have been making sure our web sites, rich media and social media designs where intuitive so the user knows where to click and what they'll get. But with Touch UI gaining momentum, it begs the question: Is Touch UI the Click UI killer? After all, video killed the radio star... During my week of Interactive sessions at SXSW, I realized that the focus of conventional Click UI was pretty much obsolete. If anything, it was only mentioned in passing. And I also didn't hear the word "usability" mentioned at all. It was all about the touch or gesture experience.
I joke that my kids don't know what a mouse is, but it's true. Their first experience and exposure to computers were a laptop, iPhone, and iPad. None of these devices uses a mouse or has to be clicked. We do have desktop computers around, but it's avoided because there's a feeling of entrapment compare to our mobile devices. Our expectations of how we experience the web has gone way beyond just the conventional and intuitive navigations.
Whether we believe conventional Click UI is a passing phase or not, it is paramount to consider the visual interface as part of the brand. As designers, we'll need to build an easy and memorable experience for our users. And to stay on top of our competitors, those experiences will need to be unique. This is what Nike Myers described in his "The Visual Interface Is Now Your Brand" session at SXSW. Where do you think the user interface is heading?
Here's a little taste of things to come when the visual is the interface.
SXSW for newbies: A day in the life of a SXSW virgin.
South by Southwest or better known as SXSW, is an interactive, music and film festival. A few of us, Broganites, set off on our travels to take part in the interactive portion of the festival. In particular, I was a SXSW virgin. However, I was excited to lose my v-card and participate in networking events, panel discussions and other social activities surrounding tech innovations.
My first thought was that it all was extremely overwhelming. There were probably over 50 events or sessions you could choose from per day. And there were always going to be 1 or 2 that you could tell would be a waste of time once you sat in them for the first 10 minutes. But overall, the tech leaders that made up the panel discussions and sessions were really insightful. They made you think. After a session you would feel more empowered, more knowledgeable and maybe even invincible. There was also the feeling of: When I get home I am going to be the first one in my office to know about the next great tech idea!
I had a few favorite sessions and here’s what I learned from them:
I Used Data Analytics to Game Online Dating – I was under the assumption that this solo speaker, Amy Webb, was using the title as a metaphor. I thought I was going to a session about social media analytics. Boy was I wrong! It really was about her dating life. This woman created an algorithm to find her husband on an online dating platform. It was even considered rated “R” according to the SXSW organizers – only because she used colorful, raunchy-ish language. Even though it wasn’t what I expected, I really found it very entertaining and humorous. And I may even buy Webb’s book, Data: A Love Story, once it is released in 2013.
What’s So [Bleeping] Hard About Social ROI? – There isn’t one! Or at least there isn’t a universal social media ROI. The panel from this session discussed that you shouldn’t use sales as a goal for social media. Social media is about building relationships directly with the consumer. For those folks who have created their own ROI for social – your formula should be used as a benchmark. However, it’s not an absolute science or equation. My favorite quote from this panel was “What’s the ROI in not doing social?” from Craig Daitch a Social Media Manager for Ford Motor Company.
Social Media Is a Bubble and SXSW Is a Fad – This panel of 5 had lots to say. It was a combination of humor and opinions. All but one of the panelists agreed that social media was a bubble. They were preaching that the social community should figure out how to manage the bubble once it bursts. How do we create value from the burst? I think the creative talent that comes out of this burst will need to be placed in new companies. However, this could be good because they will bring new and fresh ideas to wherever they land. This was by far my favorite, because these people who are looked at as social leaders were being realistic and having a real conversation about the social phenomenon. It is here to stay; the question is when will it become just another medium? After the bubble bursts?
So there you have it, those were my favorite sessions from SXSW. And I can now say…I am no longer a virgin, and it was mind blowing! If you were in Austin last week, what would you say was your favorite session? If you weren’t in Austin last week, does this sound like something you would want to be a part of next year?
Facebook fMC Conference – the new brand Pages.
Yesterday was Leap Day, but it will always be remembered as a revolutionary day in the world of social media. Facebook took a huge leap forward with the inaugural Facebook Marketing Conference. The six-hour, invitation-only event packed the American Museum of Natural History in New York, marking a day in history of its own. If you didn’t happen to make the conference, or your invitation somehow got lost in the mail, never fear. Here’s a recap of what you missed:
Mike Hoefflinger, Facebook’s Director of Marketing, announced some new features that are being incorporated with the introduction of timeline for brand Pages. (Side note for brand Pages: Timeline will launch for all brand Pages on March 30, 2012 but you can preview what your Page will look like before it launches and try the new features. We definitely suggest testing out all of the new features and familiarizing yourself with timeline before changing over your Page for good.)
Here are some key takeaways about the new brand Pages:
Cover Photo and Profile Picture – Your cover photo is your new visual status update. You should change this image as often as you’d like to set the tone for your Page. As for your profile picture: keep it simple and constant. Use your logo or and image that will be easily associated with your brand. Here’s a great example from Ben & Jerry’s, one of the brands that has been in beta for timeline.
Applications – These will now appear as rich applications just below and to the right of the cover photo. These applications will engage customers and encourage them to click more often. Starbucks has also been in beta for Timeline and has made great use of the new apps feature.
Pinned Posts, Starred Posts, Backdated Posts – You can “pin” posts (like Red Bull) that you’d like to feature as a “post of the week”. These will stay at the top of your timeline, appearing as the most recent post.
Star posts to make them double-wide on the timeline and/ or backdate posts to tell the story of how your brand evolved. Before launching your new brand Page, consider selecting 10 milestones to highlight on your Page timeline.
Friend Activity Filter – This appears at the top of the timeline on the brand Page. You can select this feature to see all of the stories about your friends that are connected to the brand (check-ins, likes, photos, etc.). You can also change the filter to see highlights, posts by the Page, or posts by others.
Admin Panel – There is a new admin panel front and center on the page. The admin panel will include notifications, insights, new Likes, page tips and messages. Now, admins will have the ability to reach out to people privately on behalf of the brand.
New Ads for Brand Pages:
Offers on Facebook-Now, brands can post offers on their pages that fans can click to immediately claim the deal. Once they click, the offer will be sent to the user’s email or to their mobile device and is immediately redeemable
Reach Generator – This feature will ensure that fans see your story, and it allows you to reach and engage 75% of fans with the content from your page. Basically, you post content on your page and then Facebook distributes it to your fans. Your sponsored post will appear on their homepage.
Premium on Facebook – This feature is the most impactful way to distribute content on Facebook. It begins similar to Reach Generator (posting to the brand page, where your post will be distributed to the right side of your fans’ homepages as sponsored stories). However, Premium on Facebook goes even further and makes your post eligible for distribution in the Facebook newsfeed (on both desktop and mobile). Premium will also give you the option for your story to appear in logout experience. This option, beginning in April, will be beneficial to brands that have a large reach campaign or an upcoming product launch.
Well, that’s the new timeline for brand Pages in a nutshell. So, what do you think? Are the new Pages going to be more beneficial to marketers?
Sheryl Sandberg – a symbol of women’s dominance in social media.
As we all know, Facebook is going public. Even though Mark Zuckerberg is the social media giant’s founder and figurehead, it seems like Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, is the one everyone’s talking about.
I’ve admired Sandberg for a long time. Not only is she a brilliant leader at Facebook (who will soon be worth an estimated $1.6 billion) she’s also a champion of other female leaders. And she puts her money where her mouth is.
According to this New York Times piece, Sandberg insists on hiring, promoting, and mentoring women within Facebook, and giving lectures on the importance of female ambition around the world.
Of course, Sandberg is an uncommon visionary. On the other hand, a woman being one of the most powerful people in social media makes perfect sense. Women are the most powerful forces behind social media. Take these statistics from emarketer.com:
- 69% of females use social networking sites.
- People are 49% more likely to recommend a company after they like them on Facebook.
- 79% of women will refer family and friends to a brand page.
- 40% of internet users like a brand to receive discounts/promotions.
If Sandberg alone doesn’t inspire more women to climb for the C-suite in internet tech and social media businesses, then statistics like those above should seal the deal. The numbers translate into tremendous female influence in the marketplace. That’s why it’s essential that social media be shaped by those who understand its primary users most—women.
I hope to see more and more social media-oriented companies like Facebook (and for that matter, Brogan & Partners with women at the helm. It’s a simple equation that will only add to their success.
And once she’s a billionaire, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sandberg start a foundation that promotes women’s professional development in social media and beyond. At least, that’s what I hope she’ll do.
What about you? Who are your role models within the world of social media?
Facebook fun for a cause and for marketing to women.
There are many reasons to love Facebook. I think I’ve just found another.
Here’s what I mean. Check out the Olay website. It’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it? All glamorous black shadowing, glossy red accents, dramatic splash effects and seasonal sparkles.
Now take a look at Olay’s Facebook page, specifically its “Defuzz in Defember” campaign.
Here you have a fresh-faced model wearing a phantom mustache. She’s advertising the company’s charitable campaign for December: buy Olay Smooth Finish Facial Hair Removal Duo, and Olay will donate a dollar to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (and give you a $3 discount, to boot).
To spread the word about defuzzing for a cause, you can add a pink mustache to your Facebook picture. And you know me, I can’t resist any opportunity to advocate for breast cancer research. Check out my cute ’stache here.
A glamour shot it’s not. What it is is a cute, lighthearted way to raise money for a great cause.
A fun stunt like this might not make it into an expensive ad campaign, but on Facebook, a company can be creative and cheeky. It’s the perfect counterpart to an every-pixel-perfect TV spot or print ad.
In other words, with the dual platform of advertising and Facebook pages, a company can have its glamour and its goofiness, too. And since we know women are a complicated target audience, that multi-prong approach can only be a good thing.
What do you think of the Defuzz in Defember campaign? Have you seen any other creative campaigns lately on Facebook or other social networks?
Using Social Media to Just Give
A week ago, we all sat down to groaning Thanksgiving feasts. Then it was on to Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. I even found a site, moderntribe.com that invented Shop Jewish Sunday. It all culminated in the Visine-inducing Cyber Monday.
Now many of us, awash in beribboned packages, have a consumer hangover. That’s why the newspaper ad I spotted the other day came at the perfect time.
The ad urges us to “redefine Christmas” by giving to charities instead of giving stuff. I think that’s a great message. While sometimes a material gift is just the thing for a holiday or occasion, whenever I see a “no gifts” note on an invitation, I happily make a donation to my favorite charity—the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure--instead.
But what if you don’t have an automatic go-to charity.
That’s where social media comes in.
With a quick Google, I found some excellent charity clearinghouses, including:
- Just Give, which created the Redefine Christmas ad.
- Charity Navigator with lots of great functions including a complete rating on charities.
- Network for Good offers charity gift cards.
- Charity Watch helps you check out organizations and insure that your online donation is safe.
-
Crowdrise, one of my personal favorites, just offered a 48 hour promotion where 1 out of every 3 donations were free. This allowed users of crowdrise an opportunity to give their favority charity a donation and get the money right back.
All of these sites are about giving back and sharing with your friends so they can give back too.
And if these sprawling databases are too much for you? Check out your friend's Facebook pages for their favorite charities. That’s how I found out about Kiva through which one can make microloans to business owners in need, as well as Heifer International which gives families in developing nations livestock and training to improve their health and finances.
Or go to a favorite business’s website. Subaru, for instance, is “Sharing the Love” through the holiday season by donating $250 to one of five charities for every new car sold.
Online networks are a great way to find cool stuff to buy. But they’re also the perfect medium for giving back. To me, that’s the essence of what social media is all about.
Building brands with Google Plus: new social media essential or just another Facebook?
To be completely honest, my initial reaction to the Google Plus unveiling was less than enthusiastic. Sigh, yet another platform to tell the world I am “at Starbucks, getting a latte.” (I try to convince myself on a daily basis that this is relevant information). Trust me, I’m not complaining. I like having options. But keeping up with the social media rat race can be a little exhausting, regardless of how heavily it impacts our daily lives (or for some of us, our jobs).
Facebook, Twitter and the like are a huge part of what I do Brogan & Partners. I have seen up close and personal how social media can single handedly build a brand, generate buzz and make or break the success of a business. So this forces the question…will Google Plus become as natural as breathing like updating a status on Facebook?
Let’s take a look at the stats. Thus far, Google Plus has about 40 million users, a drop in the bucket compared to its Facebook counterpart of 800 million. This also means that due to Plus’s lack of maturity, it is too soon to say for sure how effective the network will be for marketing and building brands. In terms of cosmetics, both formats appear to be pretty similar at first glance, even though Facebook will be introducing Timeline, their new “Face lift”, in the near future (stay tuned for more on that).
All uncertainties aside, however, Google Plus might have its advantages. Unlike Facebook, Plus users will have the capability to link directly to YouTube while sharing videos without having to shorten URL’s or be shackled by character limits. It will also have the benefit of donning the name “Google” and, of course, in the ultimate form of nepotism, Google Plus brand pages will be promoted to the top of the search engine powerhouses’ results.
.jpg)
Another benefit to using Google Plus is its current lack of saturation. You may have heard whispers when the new social network debuted that you needed an invitation to join (a great PR ruse used by Facebook when it appeared on the scene, too). It is now open to all users, but because you can customize the circles you share with and vice versa, you won’t get the same mess of information on your home page that you certainly get on Facebook. For now.
Only time will tell how big this social giant will grow. I, of course, jumped on the band wagon and signed Brogan up for a Plus profile. Want to know how to get your brand started on Google Plus?
- Sign in with your Google account, then go the Google Plus Business Page and click “Create your Google + Page.”
- Choose what category your brand falls under (most likely, it will be “Product or Brand”, or if you are unsure you can pick “Company, Institution or Organization)
- Now, enter your page name (your brand name) and your website.
- This next step is where you need to get a little creative. You have to describe your brand/company in 10 words or less. Try to stick to a description that includes buzz words about your business’s core competencies or where you fit in the marketplace. Here are a few things to think about: What makes you unique? What do you really do? If someone is on a search engine, what words would help them find you the fastest?
- Tell your circles. If you are new to Google Plus, then you most likely do not have circles to tell of your new presence. So you can skip this step. If you are a Google Plus vet, then you can share your page with your current Plus contacts.
- Congrats! You have a Google Plus page. Start looking up other brands and add them to your circles, post pictures and beef up the information to your profile page. The more info on your page and posts about your brand, the better.
Created a page already? I gave you my thoughts on Plus...I’d love to hear yours.
Radio gone digital; Pandora vs. IHeartRadio.
I’m sure you listen to some type of streaming music from your computer or phone at some point during the day. But which platform do you use? Pandora is above and beyond the most used online radio service, and has paved the way for online radio with its 100 million registered users. But don’t think that Pandora is the only option for advertisers in regards to an online music platform. Clear Channel Communications, the Nation’s largest broadcast radio operator is taking a swing at Pandora. They are giving a heavy push to their online/mobile platform, IHeartRadio. IHeartRadio has two functions:
1. Consumers can stream any of Clear Channel’s 850 radio stations in 150 markets across the Nation from their computer or mobile device. So, if I am in California and I want to listen to a Detroit station because I like their morning show, I can (and starting in 2012, buyers will be able to place commercials on the new platform).
2. The other function is that you can create your own custom station, much like Pandora- type in an artist to build a station and the same genre of music will play according to your “likes” or “dislikes” per song.
The only catch with IHeartRadio is that in order to build a station you must sign up through your Facebook account. This function is perfect for media buyers because it allows us access to a listener’s key demographic information and the ability to geo-target. Clear Channel is also reinforcing IHeartRadio by using their 850 broadcast radio stations to promote listening online or via mobile device – a promotional option that Pandora does not have.
Just when we wondered if radio was slowly dying as a medium, the leaders reinvent themselves and adapt to the future. As a media buyer, it’s a great option to have IHeartRadio to compliment a traditional radio buy.
Just like almost every other medium, radio too has moved digital. The question is which platform will bring the most success and who will take the lead? Regardless of who wins the battle – It’s a win-win for advertising.
Growing up on facebook: personal rebranding.
In my second summer interning at Brogan & Partners, I realized something about the way my generation uses facebook. Even though we didn’t know it at the time, my high school classmates and I were all branding ourselves on facebook. The kind of music we liked, who we were “married to,” the events we were attending, the number of wall posts we had—all of it conveyed a very specific image of who we were, or who we wanted to be, to our facebook stalkers. At the same time, we worked hard to rid our facebook of all pictures of red cups and scandalous Halloween costumes so our image amongst aunts, uncles, parents, and principles would remain untarnished. Some made their pictures private, while others made their facebook profiles unsearchable via google and facebook.
But now that the high-school-facebook generation (HSFB, if you will) is graduating college, the way we treat our facebook profiles, and the way our personal brand is perceived by our audience, is about to change. Instead of hiding our profiles from authority figures, we need to make our profiles more available, and attractive, to future employers. Not only do we need to revamp facebook by ridding it of all shameful pictures, but also use facebook to our advantage as a functional, professional branding tool.
Some add professional elements to their current facebook profile, while others create an entirely new facebook fan page for the use of potential employers. On these facebook pages, our resume, contact information, and links to other social media sites should be available. But this “grown up” facebook shouldn’t be devoid of any personality. By retaining some of the information from our “kiddie” facebook, (i.e. about me, interests, music) we can make a good first impression with potential employers before we even set up an interview. Based on the more personal aspects of your facebook page, your employer might feel like they know you a little better—maybe your shared TV shows indicate a similar sense of humor or political viewpoint, maybe they love your ultrahip taste in music, or maybe you even put up a video resume, so they’ve already learned what a great public speaker you are.
Personal branding isn’t a new thing for generation HSFB. The personal branding strategies that used to impress the cool girls and high school jocks can now work the same wonders on future employers—the brand might just need a little tweaking.
Why women are leading the social media bandwagon.
For generations there has been an endless debate of who rules the world, men or women. During the sixties, James Brown stated his opinion with “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”. In Beyonce’s new song “Run the World” she sings, “Who run the world? Girls, girls”. The debate will continue. But in the world of social media, we have a definitive gender winner. It’s women who rule. Sure, men created most of our social platforms but it is women who are maintaining and growing them.
According to Read Write Web, a study done by an online company rapleaf.com revealed that on most social network platforms “women outnumber men by a considerable amount. On Facebook, the 18-24 age group is the largest, with 1,685,029 women in that age group compared to 977,753 men.”
Why are women the largest contributors to social media? According to Jessica Faye Carter, an award-winning author and owner of Nette Media, it is simply because as mothers, we like to share information, educate others as well as develop new trends.
As expert multi-taskers, women like how easily they can share information with family and hundreds of “friends” simply with a click of a button. And as the leading household purchasing decision-maker, they use social media to share information about products, services, time-saving tips and money-saving offers.
Men want to rule the world. Women want to save the world. So it’s no wonder so many women are using social media to make social change. Whether raising awareness for lead paint or money for the breast cancer 3-day, women are using these social tools to build a better world for all of us.
Who do you think will rule the social media world in the future?
