Consumers ‘quick fix’ for information

As stated in one of my other blog posts, the use of mobile phones has increased dramatically – as has advertisement spending for the platform. However, another interesting statistic has popped up which correlates with the increased use of Snapchat, Instagram and Vine. This is the fact that consumers are far more visually engaged and like to consume content faster than ever.

Vine is becoming more and more popular

What does this mean for marketers? In a nutshell, it illustrates the fact that consumers want content which is quick and easy to view on their mobile device. Things like Vines and quick YouTube advertisements are perfect examples of this. However the issue is, how do marketers relay information in such a short period of time?

Answer to that is relevancy. Advertisements need to become more relevant and “honed in” on specific target markets. There is no longer a “one size fits all” policy when it comes to marketing, as consumers are becoming far more picky and now also have the tools to filter information they deem irrelevant. The current trend is showing that short, relevant and personable ads are far more effective than some traditional forms of media.

Going back to my first point about mobile phones, the Australian Bureau of Statistics state that over 90% of adults have their phone within arms reach at any given time. This means on the train, waiting in line and even on the toilet, consumers are using their phones or have them near. The trend in short videos or infographics correlates with this, because time and attention is limited when waiting in line or on the train.

Using smartphones on the train

Ultimately, digital marketers need to start creating content that is easy to ‘digest’ for consumers. Content that can be opened and viewed in less than half a minute. Utilising platforms such as Instagram and Vine is a good start to take advantage of the trend of short and easy to consume content.

Have you guys come across any images or short videos which really struck a chord? Feel free to share them here.

Reddit’s AMA

On reddit.com, there is a ‘subreddit’ (a specialized forum, essentially) where people can (with proof) post that they are taking questions and will answer. Obviously, this has generated a lot of hype and has taken off as a platform for celebrities and the like to get involved and promote their new products whilst interacting with fans and other people on the site that they otherwise do not get a chance to interact with.

The reason this is popular is because it is so intimate. Similarly to social media, you are literally typing a question to a celebrity and they are answering your question personally (usually…). It allows the fan to get a glimpse into the mind of a celebrity and their personality. Ultimately, it’s an interview done by thousands of different people.

“Proof” of an AMA

However, there is a right way to go about this to build a good rapport with your audience. There have been some notable failures with AMA’s in the past.

AMA’s need to be genuine and sincere. The users of Reddit will be quick to judge and condemn those celebrities who are simply using the site as a way to market their product. An AMA done last year by Morgan Freeman was considered to be done poorly and taken negatively by the community. The answers were short, boring and seemed to relate back to his new movie that he was coming out. Moreover, the picture he posted for proof seemed to be photoshopped.

Morgan Freeman’s Proof

All in all, it was a PR disaster for him. He was made a mockery of on that site and the community.

But, there have been example of good AMA’s. These AMA’s engage the audience whilst at the same time building interest of the products they are trying to market. The key with the AMA is not to sell a product, but to sell a brand. A brand can be a person or anything – and what needs to happen is to build a strong rapport with the community and the brand. As soon as a product gets involved, the community feels used and disengaged – this is not what we want.

Have you gone on reddit and been part of an AMA, or read through a good one?

How to not use Social Media

Mike Maulbeck, an unknown video game developer decided to throw a tantrum on his twitter targetting the CEO and founder of one of the biggest game store platforms in the world. The issue was over one of their newly released games simply being mislabelled by an error. It was advertised as “early access” when the game was in full release. Regardless, even though a phone call or email could have fixed the problem, the developer decided to go to twitter to vent his frustrations.

How not to use twitter

As a result of this, their game was pulled from Steam. This is a massive blow, because Steam is almost a necessity for small developers. Essentially, that one tweet has ruined Mike’s credibility in the industry, as well as his company and his partners in the company.

This example really illustrates how important it is to really maintain yourself on social media. Social Media is a window to the outside world, and you cannot let your frustrations get the better of you. Venting on social media is the same as screaming out loud in front of a shopping centre full of people. The entire world can see what you write so you must conduct yourself civilly.

Had Mike simply posted about the issue with the Early Access on his game, the outcome will have been different. Valve would have fixed the problem and consumers would still be happy. Slanderous comments would not have been posted, and the game (which was expected to sell decently) would have netted a hefty profit for their company. However, due to a momentary lapse in judgement on social media, Mike’s credibility as well as his company’s credibility in the industry has all but been destroyed.

This isn’t the only example where a company has handled a situation poorly on Social Media. One that springs to mind is the Amy’s Baking Company scandal which had a similar impact, destroying an organisations credibility due to a few posts made on social media which were made in a moment of anger.

Amy’s Facebook Ability

Social media is a great tool when used properly. However much care needs to be taken, as the whole world is your audience. One wrong move could put your company into a crisis.

What examples of poor social media handling have you come across?

The International

The International is Valve Corporations DotA (Defence of the Ancients) tournament held every year. It’s an invite only event taking the best players of the video game from around the world to compete in a tournament for prize money.

Now, DotA is a video game. It’s too hard to explain the specifics in a single post but essentially it’s a 5v5 map with 2 teams and each player working together with their team to destroy the enemy teams ‘base’ or ‘ancient’. You use your different skills and compliment your teams and there are more than a hundred different ‘heroes’ to base your team around, each with unique spells, abilities and roles within the game.

This years prize money was close to $11 MILLION USD. First place gets half of that. To put it into perspective, the first place of the UEFA Champions League soccer (or football, depending which side of the fence you’re on) final is worth 10 million euro. The prize pool for a video game tournament is comparable to the prize pool of one of the most prestigious footballing event in the world.

How did Valve do this? How did they make their game that popular and generate enough money to host a massive tournament, and grow this video game into an actual sport?

The Compendium

They did this through The Compendium. An Add on to their FREE video game, DotA2. The compendium costs $10 and of that $10 part of it goes to the prize pool for the tournament. Essentially they are enabling the players of the game to pay for the tournament. This isn’t the first time Valve has done something like this. For instance, they commonly use fan made art models in their game and charge a fee for people to use them, reimbursing the artist of course. Using their community, they are able to do things and spend less money which was not doable previously.

Obviously, the DotA community has had years to grow, from a map add on more than 10 years on to the multi-million dollar industry we see today. But I feel as if these practices, getting the community involved and helping to fund what they want can be translated into other industries – which also shows the success of Kickstarter and Indigogo

What are your thoughts? Can crowdfunding like in DotA2 be translated to other industries?

Steam

Steam. A platform that has evolved from a tool to launch a single company’s game to a massive platform used by countless developers to buy and play games from. It’s essentially your iTunes for video games. Steam is run by Valve Corporation, who have made some decent games in their own right. However, Steam never used to be used much let alone liked and now even preferred by most people. They did quite a few things correctly from a marketing perspective in order to get where they are today.

Steam Logo

Steam started out as a way for Valve to easily streamline and patch their games, primarily Counter-Strike 1.6, however has quickly transformed into what we know (and love) today. It’s evolved into more than that, and is now a social media platform, as well as a digital distribution, digital rights management and multiplayer platform.

The Steam Store is one of the biggest online stores for video games in the world, and that is in part due to their seasonally ‘Steam Sales’ that they host. During the Steam Sale, games go on sale for up to 60% off. These include popular AAA titles (games made with a massive budget and are usually pretty expensive, upwards of $60) to games developed by independent developers. These massive sales attract people to spend almost pocket change buying a game and getting involved with using their system. This not only draws in potential consumers, but also gets existing consumers to purchase a game they may not have intended to purchase due to how cheap it is compared to it’s original price.

Latest Steam Sale Announcement

Steam also led the way in developing social communities on its program. People can chat and add friends to play with on their games. Moreover, these friends can then recommend games to their peers on their friends list, write reviews and most importantly view what game their friends are playing. Furthermore, the chat interface allows you to chat with your friends while playing. More often than not I get asked questions about niche games I’m playing, and my friends get interested in giving Crusader Kings 2 a red hot crack.

Finally, Steam personalizes your store based on previous purchases. This relatively new initiative is called the ‘Steam Queue’ and essentially takes what you spend the most time playing and shows you games your peers have rated highly. This allows you to easily find games you may find interesting which makes it easier to shop using the Steam Interface.

Steam Queue

Have you guys ever used any platforms/websites for shopping which made it easy? What are your thoughts on these sort of platforms?

Our Story

Snapchat, a tool used primarily as a way for friends to communicate with each other via the use of pictures has begun to sell itself to companies in the shape of the “Our Story” feature. In a nutshell, the Our Story feature lets snappers who are attending an event post pictures of the event based on their geographical location and proximity to the event. In other words, if you’re at the event, and using snapchat, you can post about the event you’re currently attending to every single person in the world who has snapchat.

Essentially, this is marketing the event. Events such as concerts can pay to be included in the “Our Story” segment and the snapchatters will be the ones providing all the content. For example, at an electronic dance music festival, the Our Story featured snaps and videos of festival-goers having fun, enjoying themselves and projecting a positive vibe. Since it is broadcasting worldwide to Snapchats 30+ million users, it sends a shows the event or festival to people who have probably never heard of it. These changes to snapchat show exactly how the platform is progressing, and how consumers do react positively to content which is “fan-made”.

Snapchat “Our Story”

Our Story was initially used for events such as the world cup and music festivals. However, recently as of last week Apple had a live story covering the release of their iPhone 6. This allowed people who couldn’t see the keynote or the announcement to watch the highlights of the event quickly and easily without missing much. It raised awareness of apple’s iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch release dates, to people who are not only the target market (as they own smartphones – a requirement for snapchat) but also people who may not have been aware of anything being released – I for instance had no idea apple was planning an “apple watch”, but viewing the story piqued my interest and I researched it a bit more.

The “Our Story” update shows how with digital technology, it is becoming easier and easier to interact with consumers in a non-invasive way which I believe to be important in this digital age. Moreover, it showcases how content created by fans can be just as effective if not more effective then content which is created by professional teams. Finally, the success of Our Story outlines the power of “word of mouth”, and how it’s becoming easier and easier to let more than 30 million people at a time know exactly how much fun you’re having at an event.

What do you think of “Our Story”? Bit of fun and a welcome addition to Snapchat? Or yet another thing you ignore on social media?

The Mobile Phone

Six of the worlds seven billion people own a mobile phone (U.N Survey). Moreover, close to 22% of the worlds population owns a smart phone – that’s close to 1.5 billion people with information right in their pocket, and what’s more is that this number is increasing every single day. Digital Marketers have been quick to jump on the smart phone bandwagon, which is evident in a plethora of innovative new advertising techniques we see today.

Smartphones

Facebook is the giant of the smart phone world. Buying out start-ups and offering ludicrous sums of money to popular apps. Their hunger for anything popular on the mobile phone is immense. This is because these apps have one of the most important attributes of marketing – reach. Nearly everyone in the world has a mobile phone, and these apps are becoming staples in smart phones, which account for 22% of world population of phones. Snapchat deals with over 350 million messages per day – this is a massive number and demonstrates simply the sheer amount people use their phones.

Snapchat Logo

Other techniques to utilise the mobile phone have sprung up. The QR code is one of them. Essentially, a QR code is a barcode which your phone is able to read via its camera. QR Codes then contain information or links to websites which are able to show you more of a product you’re interested in.  Marketers have been utilising QR codes for some time now, however due to the massive rise in smart phones or just mobile phones in general with cameras, they have become far more relevant. QR codes on billboards and in magazines accompany regular advertisements to put a digital twist on a classic print ad. These QR codes compliment the ad and may provide information on where to purchase the product. For example, an ad for a T shirt may have an accompanying QR code which lists all the stores local to you where you’ll be able to purchase it or even have it in stock.

A QR Code for Ralph Lauren accompanying a regular print ad.

Mobile phone use is growing, and becoming more and more relevant each days. At the core of the phenomenon, we are carrying computers with access to the internet in our pocket. Information is incredibly easy to access, and marketers are jumping on board and giving us relevant information.

Has anyone used QR codes? Has it made your experience better or worse with the ad in question?

Internet Celebrities

Snapchat has exploded.  A platform seemingly impossible to advertise on is becoming more and more saturated with celebrities or people with a lot of followers to endorse products. The days of going on the app to see what your friends are up to are dwindling, and it’s becoming more with seeing what Sedgy Fergo is up to tonight and whether or not she’s going to her FAVOURITE club, Blue Velvet in Newcastle.

The app is slowly turning into marketers utilising people with a decent following to endorse products or places, much like what’s happening with popular instagram accounts. As a result, these new celebrities are being born under the guise of still being “untainted” by the corporations. Dan Bilzerian and Jen Selter are the most popular instagram celebrities who post the products they used or recently purchased to their mass of followers. It is unknown whether or not organisations such as Nike are behind the accounts and pay them, but one things for sure – they reach millions of people daily.

A Dan Bilzerian post, showcasing his products

This is what marketing is turning into digitally. The consumer is becoming fed up with advertising and advertisements and will find ways to block them, hence the popularity of AdBlocker. Companies are looking for other ways to engage their audience and are using an age old tactic of endorsement. It happened to sports such as soccer in the 70’s and 80’s and now it’s happening to people who have a large following on social media. People are getting paid to simply make give aways on their youtube channels, flaunt their new watch they were given on instagram or let people know where they’ll be a certain night to build hype for the venue.

A Popular YouTuber’s giveaway

Essentially, it’s traditional marketing with a digital twist. My question is: how does this affect your browsing of youtube or instagram? Do you really care about advertising if it’s non invasive in the form of giveaways or photos on instagram accounts?

The Beta and how it has transformed video game marketing

Historically, ‘beta’ tests for software were for the developers to test how the piece of software worked out in the “real world”. Essentially, it was a trial run to help iron out some weird bugs or issues. All this has changed in recent times, with beta tests for a lot of games becoming tools for companies to sell their product. We’re seeing quite a few “bundle deals” with games coming out in which pre-purchasing the game gives you access to the beta. Companies are cashing in on the fact that consumers want things as soon as possible, and are sacrificing quality testing for it. The way they make their money is by riding the “hype train”, and people getting excited to try out this “revolutionary” new game, that they’ll pay money to get involved in the beta.

This has changed the beta landscape. Beta’s are now almost 100% completed products and are made to get people involved in the game early. They are a showcase of the game and users treat it as a trial to see if they want to purchase it. All the issues and problems with games and software are treated by consumers as “oh, it’s only in beta! They’ll fix it!”. Some games are even being released with “open alphas” which is a stage in the development cycle testing before beta’s, where only core mechanics and very little polish on the game is done. Moreover, some games such as “Crackdown” were advertised with a free beta pass to a much more anticipated game, Halo 3 in order to make more sales. People would buy Crackdown in order to play the beta of Halo 3. Another example is games using collectors editions and expensive products which the average consumer wont purchase containing “closed beta” invitations to persuade people into trying the game early.

Crackdown, the game.

Consumers love “trying before you buy” and beta tests do exactly that. What ends up happening is that they play the beta, and generally get involved and invested because it’s new and then purchase the game. It essentially enables customers who were on the fence with purchasing a product to make a decision whether to buy it. So of course, it’s no surprise when beta’s start offering free perks and little gifts for customers to enjoy.

This change in the landscape of beta is both good and bad, as it lets smaller companies advertise and promote their game (in other words, making money) whilst simultaneously testing it on a large scale. At the same time however, it’s also letting any John, Dick and Harry to test the game, and they’re usually only interested in trialling the game rather than actually testing it. This leads to unreported bugs, typos and just issues in general for the game.

Example of a game giving away beta keys as a promotion.

What are your thoughts? Should games treat Beta’s (or any large scale “public” tests) more professionally or leave them as is, which is currently a revenue stream.

The meme, and how to utilise it

It’s no surprise that marketers love viral campaigns. They’re (usually) cheap, easy to implement and the consumers do most of the work for you spreading it around various websites and notably social media. “Memes” are especially vulnerable to becoming viral. They’re short, funny and relate-able, but they do suffer from one thing: being bloody annoying.

A meme is defined as “an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.” (Oxford Dictionaries) They usually originate in places like Reddit or 4chan, and get posted till they die in those sites. Eventually, sites with less credibility for creating original content pick them up and so begins the cycle of the repost. The repost is exactly what you want to avoid when creating memes or using memes, as the audience quite frankly gets sick of seeing the same thing posted over and over again.

The irritating and quite frankly dead “troll face”

Memes such as this annoying thing originated in 2008. 6 Years on, it’s still being reposted in pictures and even some companies facebook pages still use this thing. It’s done, it’s dead and it keeps being revived and revived and it loses all meaning to what it meant in 2008. All of a sudden, you have people using it incorrectly which loses the whole humour of the meme and it becomes a disaster post with people simply ignoring it, or unliking pages because they’ve seen that stupid face 1,000 times over the course of 6 years. In fact, this particular “troll face” meme has sparked another meme where users will use the face satirically to imply that they are children or idiots who have no idea what they’re doing on the internet – not something you want to be associated with as a business.

In order to use memes effectively, organisations will need to either create original content or use existing and relevant (relevant being not done to death) memes to try and sell their products. Another great post I’ve seen is Jagermeister’s Facebook page, who have added a relatively fresh new twist on a dead meme. The “Tag a mate” meme is done to death when its utilised with stupid internet pictures, however Jager has created their own, original art and have added a funny post as well. Long story short, when I’m scrolling the newsfeed amongst the other meme drivel, it’s refreshing to see something original with a fun twist. Needless to say, I usually chuck it a like and get involved.

The Jager “Tag a mate” meme

Regardless, when used properly a short and funny picture which gets people involved is always a good thing for a business. However care needs to be taken to make sure it’s not a repost of a repost as that becomes annoying to people who see the same thing posted constantly. Originality and relevancy is key here.

What do you guys think? What makes a good “meme” to you?

– Tom