SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS TAKES RISK, NOT MASTERY

SOCIAL MEDIA IS STILL AN ANOMALY, BUT THAT ISN’T STOPPING BRANDS FROM DELIVERING FANTASTIC SOCIAL CONTENT

TABLE OF CONTENTSPAGE 4: 5 WAYS TO ENHANCE THE VALUE OF SOCIALExperts weigh in on how marketers can leverage the increasing volume of social interactions to drive engagement and sales.

PAGE 6: WHAT SHOULD MARKETERS DO WHEN BRAND NEGATIVITY GOES VIRAL?Here are seven ways marketers can address viral negativity in a world where the power rests with the consumer.

PAGE 8: CAN B2B COMPANIES FIND SOCIAL MARKETING SUCCESS? UH, YEAH.Edmund Optics took its quirky corporate persona to social channels, and customers gave the company a second look.

PAGE 10: SOCIAL MEDIA IS A SLAM DUNK FOR THE INDIANA PACERSThe NBA franchise taps into the passion of its Facebook fans and scores a winning campaign.

PAGE 12: ROLLIN’ SOCIAL MEDIA STRIKES WITH THE SOXSix do’s and don’ts for stepping outside the (batters) box and using powerful connections to connect with consumers.

PAGE 13: SOCIAL IS A KEY PART OF 24 HOUR FITNESS’ LEAD GEN. REGIMENPeer-to-peer referrals produce healthy conversion rates.

PAGE 15: IS SOCIAL MEDIA SAFE FOR MARKETERS?Hacking gets all the attention, but bullying appears to be as big a prob-lem. Should marketers take greater stock of the environment social net-works provide for their messages?

PAGE 16: SPONTANEOUS STRATEGY: THE ART OF VIRAL CONTENTApparently unplanned, successful viral content requires major strategy.

PAGE 17: 45% OF MILLENNIALS AREN’T COMPELLED BY CONTENTWhen it comes to targeting millennials, marketers may need to rethink their content marketing strategy.

PAGE 19: TALKIN’ ’BOUT MY GENERATIONMake peace with millennials by giving them a voice. [Infographic]

PAGE 20: THE TWITTERSPHERE TALKS SOCIAL MEDIA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Social media is as much a mystery to marketers as it’s ever been, but the strengths and weaknesses of the channel have become clearer as they experiment with it. Brands are finding success using social as a branding engine, a content marketing springboard, and a medium for discourse. However, social is rarely all of these things to an individual busi-ness. More often it’s a mix that emphasizes one element of marketing more than others. So, when wading into the chaotic, often cynical reality of social media, marketers should make the same considerations they would for determining whether and how best to use any other channel, as well as how social should integrate with their overall marketing mix.

INTRO

5 WAYS TO ENHANCE THE VALUE OF SOCIAL

It was once the great charge of marketers to attract as many customers as possible across as many social media platforms as possible to increase reach and visibility, with the long-term goal of generating leads. The emphasis has changed; today social is in-creasingly about quality of interactions on the right social sites over quantity of fans scattered across the social sphere.

And as the number of user interactions on social networks continues to swell, so too does the opportunity to derive purchase intent from those posts. “Social is a great avenue for people to talk about life events and preferences,” says Jeffrey Re-voy, president and CEO at social media marketing platform Viralheat. “Having that data available is extremely important to marketers because you can deeply seg-ment your audience.”

Acquiring that data often requires social listening technology, but marketers must first recognize that social listening alone won’t do the trick. Marketers will benefit most from having complementary data such as behavioral insight to create a more holistic image of their customers. “One of the challenges I faced as a CMO was the passive nature of the data you get from social listening. There’s honestly not much you can do with it,” Revoy says.

“True social intelligence data available on Facebook is something most marketers want, but few have,” adds David Guy, CEO at Facebook research and targeting firm Loud Door.

So, what can marketers do to augment existing and future social listening efforts beyond simply crawling followers’ pages? Well, there are five things they can do:

EXPERTS WEIGH IN ON HOW MARKETERS CAN LEVERAGE THE INCREASING VOLUME OF SOCIAL INTERACTIONS TO DRIVE ENGAGEMENT AND SALES. BY PERRY SIMPSON

UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF SOCIAL INTERACTIONYes, the value of social can be measured. Measuring users’ en-gagement with a brand is valuable on its own, but marketers must remember that it’s possible to track many interactions through the funnel to a purchase—and their businesses only stand to gain if they do.

“It’s possible for brands to measure the monetary value of social media interactions—the path from reaching a social media user, engaging him, and getting him to conversion is measur-able,” says Jan Rezab, CEO and cofounder of social analytics company Socialbakers.

PRIORITIZE SOCIAL“There’s a lot of noise in the market about social, but it’s just starting to really get on people’s wish lists. [Social] still isn’t a priority,” Viralheat’s Revoy notes. He’s not far afield. According to a study by Polaris B, 36% of executives say their CEO either “does not care,” or “cares little” about the company’s reputation on social media.

Though many (maybe even most) businesses have made the jump to at least one social network, concerns about the long-term viability of individual social sites persists. At some point marketers must commit to social media as a bona-fide marketing channel. This will make more sense for some verticles than others, but the decision must come from up top. “Don’t leave social decisions to mid-manage-ment,” Revoy cautions. “[You] have to make sure the social media directive comes from the C-level.”

UNIFY SOCIAL WITH OTHER MARKETINGOnce marketers determine that social will be a priority, they must weave it into

other marketing efforts. “Social media has to be inte-grated into the whole of [a brand’s] marketing,” Revoy says. “Don’t think of social as a category, think of it as one collective, end-to-end thing. Otherwise, you may

end up targeting the same person in multiple areas without realizing it. It’s no different than how we think

of email, really.”

AMPLIFY SOCIAL REACH THROUGH CONTENTMany marketers look at social media as a means to increase

reach and visibility, which certainly happens. Great content is es-sential to increasing not only reach and visibility, but just as import-

ant, social engagement, which in turn further influences reach. “Make sure that you have stellar content to [increase] your brand’s reach, and apply paid media to amplify—and measurement to understand—the true conversion,” Socialbakers’ Rezab says. “Social media reach does correlate with your business results.”

INCENTIVIZE SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTGiving consumers a reason to interact with a brand’s social accounts can help foster loyalty in a space that’s clogged with innumerable businesses vying for viewership. Take e-retailer Zappos and its “Next Outfit of the Day” initiative. The company al-lows consumers to use the hashtag #NextOOTD on Instagram photos to get a Zap-pos personalized shopping recommendation. “If we look at Zappos’ project, it’s clear that there’s more of a direct connection between social dialogue and product,” Rezab says. “This is especially true for the fashion industry as a whole, which has become attuned to visual social channels and content networks like Instagram that allow them to showcase product in a natural way.”

“SOCIAL MEDIA HAS TO BE

INTEGRATED INTO THE WHOLE OF

[A BRAND’S] MARKETING.”

WHAT SHOULD MARKETERS DO WHEN BRAND NEGATIVITY GOES VIRAL?

It happens all the time. An irate customer takes to Twitter or Reddit and airs his bad experience with a brand. The tweet or post goes viral and, voilà, the Web has a new punching bag.

It’s not just bad customer experiences that go viral either. It could be a botched re-branding. A misinterpreted product. A vocal and obnoxious executive who can’t seem to stay off social media. All of these can bring unwanted negativity to a brand. Worse, ill sentiment can rapidly spread through the Web—often before the brand’s employees begin the work day. This adds a complex layer to marketers’ increasingly full plate.

Here are seven ways marketers can address viral brand negativity, or potentially prevent said negativity from going viral in the first place.

DO SOME CANVASSINGIt’s imperative that marketers listen to customers online at all times. When foul or galling messages arise, do some cross-checking. “Acknowledge the issue at hand, especially with those directly talking about it,” says Lisa Sigler, product marketing manager at customer experience management company Clarabridge. “Sometimes people exaggerate for effect. Uncover the truth. Research the issue; determine if there are nuances to the actual situation at hand.”

THINK MORE LIKE A CUSTOMER, LESS LIKE A BUSINESSEveryone’s had a bad brand experience in some form. Marketers have to remember that they’re customers, as well. “Consider the situation from the customer’s point

HERE ARE SEVEN WAYS MARKETERS CAN ADDRESS VIRAL NEGATIVITY IN A WORLD WHERE THE POWER RESTS WITH THE CONSUMER. BY PERRY SIMPSON

of view. It’s only then, from their point of view, that we can fully understand and view the facts and be objective about any particular situation,” says Donna Pahel, director of digi-tal marketing and e-commerce strategy at digital software provider EPiServer. “When we only view [these things] from the brand’s point of view, this tends to drive our actions in a self-serving manner versus being in service of our customer.”

CONSIDER THE VIRALITY OF THE SITUATIONIt’s easy to feel overwhelmed when the Google Alerts and Twitter notifications start tumbling in over each other, but these ar-en’t always the best indication of virality. “Sometimes it feels like something has gone viral, but in reality there are just a few people talking about an issue. You have to look at the influence and network of each person to determine your next best action,” Clarabridge’s Sigler explains. “The half-life of a tweet is reported to be less than five minutes, and the next bad news story is sure to come along quickly and replace you in the headlines. Still, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the situation that caused the negativity; you still have to handle the issue.”

RECOGNIZE THE POWER OF TODAY’S CONSUMER’S VOICE“Today’s customers are highly connected and empowered—with just a few taps of their thumbs, they’re broadcasting powerful messages about our brands and their experiences with them,” EPiServer’s Pahel notes. “Their voice is powerful and connected customers are fully empowered. They’re either our best advocates or worst adversaries.”

Although some consumers have considerably more influence than others, that doesn’t decrease the likelihood of an unknown user submitting a viral post. Indeed, it’s often these less influential users who add voices to a viral conversation.

APOLOGIZENot just with a company statement either. Marketers who try to foster goodwill in the face of controversy may not negate the negativity, but consolatory gestures could

sap some of consumers’ ire. “Consider refunds or dis-counts to affected parties, and most important, fix the sys-

temic issues so the situation doesn’t happen again,” Sigler says. “Fixing issues can be the hardest part, and it must be

part of a customer experience program. Help empower the team responsible by giving them the credibility and attention

they deserve across business units and with senior management.”

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELFAs with many aspects of life, honesty is essential. In the case of managing viral neg-ativity, brands should first look inward, lest facts come alight through other means. “Sometimes we have to take our medicine when the facts are stacked against us; in these instances, responding with transparency and candor is usually a viable path for-ward,” Pahel says.

EMBRACE OMNICHANNELOften, companies botch customer service opportunities by being misinformed (or worse, uninformed) about the particulars of a customer and his situation. The covet-ed omnichannel strategy can help to address this by design; marketers who integrate stand to avoid many negative situations.

“If you change the way you engage customers on one channel, it may only be one step in an overall strategy,” says Paige O’Neill, CMO at customer experience company SDL. “It’s vital for organizations to ensure that channels are so connected that they become irrelevant, placing the focus on delivering true omnichannel engagement.”

“YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THE

INFLUENCE AND NETWORK OF

EACH PERSON TO DETERMINE YOUR

NEXT BEST ACTION.”

CAN B2B COMPANIES FIND SOCIAL MARKETING SUCCESS? UH, YEAH.

Sure, plenty of B2B companies use social channels to engage with customers. But why aren’t more of those companies talking about social revenue goals? That’s the question Edmund Optics’ Kirsten Bjork-Jones, director of global marketing commu-nications, and Geoffrey Forman, marketing analyst, posed during their session at the 2014 MeritDirect Co-op.

The reason for their rhetorical query: At Edmund Optics, revenue is an essential component of its social strategy. The maker of optics, imaging, and photonics tech-nology defines B2B social marketing success in several other ways, as well, including driving site traffic and identifying brand champions. Attaining this success starts with providing customer service, thought leadership, and other content. Edmund Optics’ customers are hungry for content, Forman said, so that’s where the company puts most of its social focus. Being responsive to queries is another success strategy. “If we don’t respond quickly to customers [on social], why would they think we could get them their product quickly,” he said.

Social success for the company also encompasses monitoring competitors and its industry, recruiting and corporate culture, and creating a brand personal-ity. “Social isn’t just about engaging customers,” Bjork-Jones said, adding that by monitoring the competition and the industy the marketing team can see the health of industry, as well as opportunities; for example, customers complaining that can’t get something they wish they could get. In terms of creating a brand personality, Edmund Optics’ has launched initiatives such as its #geekyfriday on and #biothursday on Facebook, and an annual whacky holiday video that

EDMUND OPTICS TOOK ITS QUIRKY CORPORATE PERSONA TO SOCIAL CHANNELS, AND CUSTOMERS GAVE THE COMPANY A SECOND LOOK. BY GINGER CONLON

Edmund Optics’ anniver-sary timeline features a celebrity cameo.

customers enjoy enough to share. So how does this translate into revenue? Edmund Optics gets 10% of its referral

traffic from social, versus 3% from the top three industry sites. Its Facebook page pro-vides 30% of that social referral traffic, and LinkedIn provides 41%—based in large part on Edmund Optics’ use of targeted sponsored posts.

Bjork-Jones and Forman shared seven tips for ensuring B2B social market-ing success:

DON’T BE A QUITTERBe all-in with social. If you don’t post regularly it reflects poorly on your brand.

DEDICATE RESOURCESYou need to interact daily on social, especially if customers are coming to you with service-related queries.

CREATE MEASURABLE GOALSNot all objectives have to be revenue-driven; goals such as shares and content down-loads also can be meaningful.

BE UNIQUEDevelop a personality that’s true to your brand image and carries across channels.

PLAY WELL WITH OTHERSSilos are old school. Integrate social marketing into your marcom mix.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERSUnderstanding your audience will allow you to select the channels that make the most sense for your business.

RULE, WITH FLEXIBILITYDevelop a social policy and set of guidelines that employees can follow to ensure they’re on brand and on message.

The company’s zombie-themed holiday video from two years ago garnered 5,000 views and got picked up by industry publications, one of which forwarded the email to its subscribers.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS A SLAM DUNK FOR THE INDIANA PACERS

For the most dedicated NBA fans, basketball is no game. Without a doubt, the un-bridled passion and fanfare of sports lovers remains unmatched. And marketers for the Indiana Pacers—currently one of the best teams in the league—say the players’ appearance in this year’s NBA Eastern Conference Finals simply added to the fervor of Pacers’ fans, especially on Facebook. A perfect opportunity, the team’s marketers say, to craft a zealous social campaign that rides the wave of playoff excitement and turns passion into fan engagement—and eventually profit.

“We have a very passionate fan base.... That passion of [Pacers’] fans has carried over [to Facebook],” says Rob Laycock, VP of marketing at Pacers Sports & Entertain-ment. He says the team’s social media numbers are a clear illustration of that intense fan ardor. The Indiana Pacers have more than 240,000 followers on Instagram, and an-other 424,000 on Twitter. But the Pacers’ Facebook page is a slam dunk with nearly 2.4 million fans at the time of this writing.

“With numbers like that, we thought that [Facebook] was the best place to test out [our new marketing campaign]. And if the campaign was successful, then it gave us a foundation of data to be able to fully activate [a broader marketing campaign],” Laycock says.

Of course, basketball fans have a plethora of options to connect with the team and their favorite players: attending Pacers games, going to franchise events, watching or listening at home, and buying merchandise. But Laycock says that a marketing campaign rooted in Facebook interaction would give the team deeper insight into its fan base.

“Every fan is different. Facebook helps [our marketers] get a better idea of what

THE NBA FRANCHISE TAPS INTO THE PASSION OF ITS FACEBOOK FANS AND SCORES A WINNING CAMPAIGN. BY NATASHA D. SMITH

the desires and demands are of our fans,” Laycock says. “By connecting with them on Facebook, in a very transparent way, it provides that opportuni-ty [to get to know them].”

The Pacers marketing team de-cided to get the ball rolling on a Facebook campaign that would accomplish three main goals: provide insight about the team’s fans, leverage ex-citement from the team’s appearance in the NBA playoffs, and cull customer data that would lead to more targeted, relevant, and effec-tive messages. The team used Umbel, a social platform that helps brands to build digital profiles of their custom-ers, for the initiative.

Laycock says the core of the campaign was a sweepstakes on Facebook; some of the associated contests ran during the Eastern Conference Finals. Fans could win tickets to each of the 10 sold-out playoff games held at Bank-ers Life Fieldhouse, along with autographed pho-tos of the players, and a parking pass. “Those were pretty cool [items] for a fan to win—a VIP package,” Laycock says. “To be able to win tickets to sold-out

games was a highly sought after sweepstakes.” The hope, he says, was that those prizes were enticing

enough for fans on Facebook to volunteer per-sonal data, such as name, email address,

location, game-related likes, and sports-centric preferences.

“We would promote that [sweepstakes contest] on

Facebook; fans would click the link and would then get the details: the rules, the prizes, and [most import-ant to the marketing team]

what data you would be providing to the Indiana Pac-

ers,” Laycock says.The marketing team used

that treasure trove of information to pare down the nearly 2.5 million

Facebook fans to qualified leads; i.e. people who would be more likely convert to ticket buyers.

Then the Pacers tailored emails to its fans based on their favorite players, proximity to Indianapolis, and showing of affinity for the NBA franchise by participating in the sweepstakes. Targeting based on demographics, affinities, and preferences, ostensibly, drives more ticket sales and provides members of the sales department information to sell ads and sponsorships on the Pacers’ website.

“BY CONNECTING WITH THEM ON

FACEBOOK, IN A VERY TRANSPARENT WAY,

IT PROVIDES THAT OPPORTUNITY

[TO GET TO KNOW THEM].”

ROLLIN’ SOCIAL MEDIA STRIKES WITH THE SOX

On July 20, 2014, at the Lucky Strike Lanes in Bos-ton, nearly the entire Red Sox baseball club gath-ered to do what the Red Sox have done for more than half a century, since Ted Williams founded The Jimmy Fund: raise money for sick kids. They always succeed in getting lots of cash, but this time around, thanks to social media, they also got the kids a heap of moral support in the form

of Instagram posts and tweets offering hope and encouragement. In fact, as of this writing, the #HopeBowl hashtag was cited in 262 Instagram posts relating to the Bu-chholz Foundation’s initiative, serving 642,022 impressions; it also was mentioned in 1,189 tweets, which translated to 12,794,833 impressions. (ED: These numbers were updated on August 4, 2014.)

This was the first #HopeBowl campaign, the brainchild of SapientNitro, whose cre-ative staff spotted an opportunity to connect with Sox fans past, present, and perhaps future that was as juicy as a hanging curve ball. The event was promoted in concert

with Binkeez for Comfort, an organization that delivers blankets and other comfort items to seriously ill children.

SapientNitro CMO Bill Kanarick said the campaign was a synergistic thing, combin-ing an involved fan base with a popular charity and mixing in social media’s penchant for getting people to insert themselves personally—all for the good of the kids.

“I think people are fundamentally proponents of self-expression,” Kanarick says. “If people associate with content, they like to insert themselves into the story. But if the content is truly powerful, there is significant opportunity to amplify the brand involved. Being a baseball fan is all about hope, so there was truly a powerful connection here.”

“We were able to leverage Red Sox Nation’s global, passionate, and digitally en-gaged fans to create strong, virtual communities who contributed to each campaign’s respective call-to-action,” says Nathanial Perez, global head of social media at Sapi-entNitro. “How can your brand be part of or even spark a new conversation? It is im-portant to leverage social channels as an opportunity to tap into contextual situations, creating a conversation with the right message, at the right time and place.”

Perez offers six do’s and don’ts for brands looking to connect powerfully with cus-tomers via social media:

1. Share stories, don’t tell stories.2. Connect with a purpose. Brand fans want to believe in something.3. Know your fans and your superfans.4. Be a host, not an emcee.5. Act like a human brand.6. Treat every connection as if it’s personal, because it is.

SIX DO’S AND DON’TS FOR STEPPING OUTSIDE THE (BATTERS) BOX AND USING POWERFUL CONNECTIONS TO CONNECTWITH CONSUMERS. BY AL URBANSKI

SOCIAL IS A KEY PART OF 24 HOUR FITNESS’ LEAD GEN. REGIMEN

Getting customers to refer brands can be a real work out for marketers. But as the old saying goes: No pain, no gain.

Marketers acquire more customers for their brands by enabling current patrons to brag about them in their preferred channels. Health club chain 24 Hour Fitness learned this lesson by implementing Gigya’s consumer identity management platform for its social sharing referral program.

Like many gyms, 24 Hour Fitness had a traditional offline referral program, says Joe Beruta, head of marketing and communications for the health club chain. Staff would distribute printed three-day trial passes to existing gym members in hopes that they would share the offer with family and friends. However, relying on printed materials proved difficult, not to mention costly, and limited the brand’s reach.

“As you’re leaving the gym, you probably don’t even have your wallet with you,” Beruta says. “Those print materials could get misplaced, lost, [or] forgotten about.”

As a result, 24 Hour Fitness decided to roll out Gigya’s consumer identity manage-ment platform in March 2013. The platform would enable gym members to share trial passes via email or their social networks. But 24 Hour Fitness wanted to do more than just make it easier to share. The brand had three key goals, Beruta says: leverage the exponential power of social, drive efficiencies while cutting back on costs, and collect data from social platforms to produce more relevant communications.

Here’s how it works: Existing gym members can share trial offers by visiting 24 Hour Fitness’s online or in-club kiosk referral system and logging in directly through their social networks, such as Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. The trial offer is then posted on the existing member’s page, as well as on the pages of the connections

PEER-TO-PEER REFERRALS PRODUCE HEALTHY CONVERSION RATES. BY ELYSE DUPRÉ

SOCIAL IS A KEY PART OF 24 HOUR FITNESS’ LEAD GEN. REGIMEN

with whom the deal is shared, Beruta explains. “You get much more exposure and impressions right out of the

gate than you normally would any other way,” Beruta says. “And you do that at a very reduced costs. So the efficiency is positive for our business.”

Not only do social log-ins expand the brand’s reach, but they also provide 24 Hour Fitness with new sources of data. For instance, when members access their account via social log-in, the health club is granted access to that member’s public profile information—such as name and email—says Vic-tor White, director of marketing communications at Gigya. 24 Hour Fitness can also ask for permission to access additional data beyond public profile information. Gigya then takes this data and stores it in its identity storage data base, White says, so that it can append additional data when further activities take place, such as a customer commenting on a post. 24 Hour Fitness can also take this information and add it to data stored in its central data-base to deepen its understanding of a prospect or member.

In the case of a prospect, when a person interested in joining the fitness center walks in, 24 Hour Fitness asks them to fill out a form and provide their name, address, reason for visit, fitness interests, and desired amenities. Even if that person decides not to join the gym but is part of the social sharing program, 24 Hour Fitness can take the information from the prospect’s visit and add it to her social shar-ing record to send more targeted communications.

As for members who prefer to share the trial offer via email, 24 Hour Fitness can check the email addresses of the recipients against its database to determine how many redeemed the pass. This allows the fitness center to send targeted pricing emails and promotional information based on where prospects are in the purchase cycle.

“The digital side of this [and] the social side of this really helps us get in front of potential prospects or intenders that are looking to join a gym where we normally wouldn’t have access to these people without doing heavy digital advertising cam-paigns with banners and the like,” Beruta says.

Within the first three months of launching its program, 24 Hour Fitness accumu-

lated more than 331,500 direct contact referrals via the program—or about $3 million in online media value. In addition, the brand

obtained more than 8,400 direct program referrals in Janu-ary 2014—which resulted in more than $600,000 from new

member units and lifetime value revenue.Furthermore, 24 Hour Fitness was able to identify which

social networks existing members were choosing to share their passes. Within nine months, the health club deter-mined that its Facebook shares had decreased from 77.4% to 58.9% while its Pinterest shares rose from almost non-existent to 11.2%.

“This also is a positive for us,” Beruta says, “because from a digital advertising strategy, we want to go where the

people go and where people are interested to help [them] find fitness and wellness.” Although 24 Hour Fitness’ program has remained fairly similar to

its original debut, the company intends to experiment with gamifica-tion to play off the competitive nature of a gym, Beruta says. He adds that the

fitness club leveraged Gigya’s influencer reporting capabilities to identify which cus-tomers referred their friends and family the most and reward them for doing so, with perks such as free merchandise.

“Generally speaking, not all users are created equal,” White says. “Some are more responsive [and] some are more influential than others. It’s important to be able to identify which ones are creating the most value for your business and simply say thank you to them.”

However, Beruta says that it’s important for marketers to be transparent about their use of social data to prevent their pasts from deterring marketers’ futures.

“There is a consumer base across the country that has skepticism about their data and their intelligence,” Beruta says. “From a marketing perspective there’s a lot of op-portunity to do this in the right way, permission based, that can benefit the company and not compromise consumers’ information. [Marketers] have some work to do be-cause there’s been a variety of challenges in the marketplace with a variety of differ-ent brands that have made that more challenging today than it used to be.”

“THERE IS A CONSUMER

BASE ACROSS THE COUNTRY THAT

HAS SKEPTICISM ABOUT THEIR DATA

AND THEIR INTELLIGENCE.”

IS SOCIAL MEDIA SAFE FOR MARKETERS?

Last week the Poneomon Institute, a noted Internet privacy research firm, re-leased a study reporting that half of adult Amer-icans—some 110 million people—were victims of computer hackers in the past year. Getting less attention on the Inter-net is another, perhaps less controllable, brand of bad behavior. A survey of more than 1,000 Ameri-cans released today says that nearly half of those

under the age of 35 have been bullied, harassed, or threatened online. Six out of 10 of those polled said the nasty business took place on Facebook; Twitter came in second at 24%.

One of the first determining factors for a marketer in selecting media is environment. Is the content/look/tone/ambiance of this TV show/magazine/website consistent with my brand’s image and message? If you’re Clairol, you can feel fairly safe about an ad on The Bachelorette or a video clinic on Glamor.com, but how can you avoid damning your brand forever with sponsored posts on the Facebook pages of teenaged girls alongside posts taunting them about their looks? You’d run the risk of having an impressionable young lady

construe your well-meaning message as just another taunt that she’s not pretty enough.Women report being digitally harassed more often than men, according to results of the

poll, conducted by Rad Campaign, Lincoln Strategies, and Craigconnects. More than half of the women responding (57%) said they had been slurred online, versus 43% of men. Sex-ual harassment leads the trash-talking parade at 44% of all incidences, followed by attacks on a person’s professional ability (28%), race (23%), religion (18%), and politics (16%).

It’s one thing for marketers to expect that some of their display ads or videos might end up on bogus bot pages or websites not named on their media plans; it’s part of the Wild West, programmatic-buying world of digital marketing. But it’s a different kettle of fish when you’re trying to cuddle up with prospective brand fans in their so-cial mingle, only to find that you’ve plopped yourself in the middle of a vitriol-spitting, hair-pulling, text-and-image melee.

As environment goes, social media is the Love Canal. Nearly 30% of those surveyed said they feared for their lives after being harassed and 20% were afraid to leave their houses. Very few—just 25%—reported the harassment, though the ones who did re-ceived positive action from social networks. In 61% of cases reported, according to the poll, the network shut down the offender’s account.

A lack of metrics and intelligence in social media makes the problem tougher to handle for direct marketers. And a lack of attention to the problem promises to keep social media marketing a blind, three-legged sack race for the foreseeable future.

“We are surprised that there has been so little public research on this topic given the role of social media in most of our lives,” says Stefan Hankin, president of Lincoln Park Strategies. “With the high levels of harassment reported by those under 35, this problem will likely continue to grow if not addressed. We hope this poll will provide the needed data to take action.”

HACKING GETS ALL THE ATTENTION, BUT BULLYING APPEARS TO BE AS BIG A PROBLEM. SHOULD MARKETERS TAKEGREATER STOCK OF THE ENVIRONMENT SOCIAL NETWORKS PROVIDE FOR THEIR MESSAGES? BY AL URBANSKI

IS SOCIAL MEDIA SAFE FOR MARKETERS? SPONTANEOUS STRATEGY: THE ART OF VIRAL CONTENT

Viral content has the reputation for being a spontaneous, unplanned form of content marketing that gains its own momentum. But as CEO of Virool.com Alexander De-belov explains in this lucid Q&A, behind most viral brand content there are detailed, marketing plans.

WHY SHOULD VIRAL CONTENT BE A GOAL FOR MARKETERS AND THEIR CAMPAIGNS?Viral content should definitely be integral to marketing campaigns.

But I think there’s a misconception [about viral content]. First is when we think of something as viral, a lot of people tend to think of this element of surprise or some-thing unexpected. Or we think viral content is something that simply took off [or gained momentum] on its own. Things do go viral, sometimes, on their own. But gen-erally, [viral content] stems from a very defined process with steps in order to become popular on the Web.

The challenge for marketers today is to get people [in their target audience] to share brand-related content with their friends. Basically [marketers] enable consum-ers to become brand advocates for them. Traditional messages—TV or radio—don’t do this. Viral content does.

SO, CAN YOU DEFINE VIRAL FOR US, AND EXPLAIN THE VARYING DEGREES OF VIRAL CONTENT?The way that I look at viral content is any content that gets the consumer to engage and then share—particularly on social media. It also means some level of high engage-ment, either in great numbers or resonance among a specific audience.

As for varying degrees, there really are a number of levels in which content can go viral. Articles, videos, and other content can go viral without mass numbers but reach a goal of a particular sect of people in a particular region. And on top of that people share that content. You don’t need millions of people sharing it—just the people in your target demographic. You have to understand that markets are limited. You can create content with mass appeal, but there’s equally effective content that is more niche. It’s that niche content which can appeal to a particular community. And it’s those people in that community who become brand advocates.

HOW IMPORTANT IS A VIRAL VIDEO IN AN OMNICHANNEL CAMPAIGN THAT HAS SEVERAL MOVING PARTS?That depends on the marketer and what the goals of the campaign are. The role of a viral content plan depends on the campaign that the marketer is planning to run. If you have a successful piece of content and have several channels available in an omnichannel campaign, use that content’s success to your advantage. Look at [the channels] where the most engagement takes place and strategically position the content that you would like to go viral into those channels. This is a great strat-egy to get the word out. People will begin to recognize and relate to that content right away.

APPARENTLY UNPLANNED, SUCCESSFUL VIRAL CONTENT REQUIRES MAJOR STRATEGY. BY NATASHA D. SMITH

45% OF MILLENNIALS AREN’T COMPELLED BY CONTENT

Savvy marketers recognize the value of content and embrace its future impact. These marketers have devoted countless resources to better serve content to the ever-elusive millennial. Despite all of this, 45% of millennials simply aren’t interested in the content that marketers currently serve, according to a recent study conducted by DigitasLBi, Razorfish, Tumblr, and Yahoo.

Millennials will command a cumulative $1.4 trillion in spending power by 2020, ac-cording to the study, which surveyed 15,000 people between the ages of 18 and 34. Marketers must assess their current content marketing strategies if they hope to capture the attention (and dollars) of this massive portion of disengaged millennials. “We see a number of strategic and creative changes marketers could be making in order to better engage millennials,” says Lauren Weinberg, VP of global research and insights at Yahoo. “Brands need to understand how millennnials are different and en-gage with them on their terms.”

These differences are numerous and varied, but if marketers take away one fact it should be that millennials are digitally native. Much of this generation went through their formative years with constant access to information. Millennials have an average of 7.1 devices they use to engage with this information and content, according to the study. With so many windows through which to view the world and its information, millennials’ values have shifted from those of previous generations. Authenticity, di-versity, equality, transparency. These are factors that have shaped this generation’s worldview and influence how they engage with content, according to the study. “In terms of strategy, brands should engage [millennials] on a human level,” Weinberg ad-vises. “In terms of creative, brands need to take the opportunity to help millennials get

WHEN IT COMES TO TARGETING MILLENNIALS, MARKETERS MAY NEED TO RETHINK THEIR CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY. BY PERRY SIMPSON

a sense of escape, discover things they didn’t know, and achieve their aspirations—all things millennials desire from the content [they] consume and share,” she continues.

According to the study, 72% of millennials tend to find themselves lost in a vortex of entertainment. Seventy-six percent want to stay informed on specific topics and 75% want to cultivate information and become more intelligent. About 44% of millennials seek resources that will help them transition into responsible adults and 45% look for finan-cial crisis advice and information. These varied interests contribute to millennials’ general acceptance of digital advertising. “[Millennials] appreciate and understand that the Inter-net is a business, and that advertisements exist so they can access [these] things free of charge,” Weinberg says. This makes content marketing all the more effective.

If marketers can advise, entertain, or inform millennials, then they stand a real chance at converting these valuable consumers to loyal, powerful brand advocates. “The great thing about millennials is that, with them, good content is good content. Whether it’s from their best friend or a brand,” Weinberg notes.

Effective content marketing is absolutely essential if marketers hope to engage this generation of consumers, but for content to succeed the strategies behind it must change with the times. The study presents five tips for marketers to more effectively market to millennials with content.• Be native, but not deceptive• Be an individual and be ready to evolve• Deliver on an emotion and know that humor rules• Reserve judgment• Be part of the community

The study also presents five tactics marketers can leverage to be more effective with content creative.• Set the mood• Help millennials escape• Fuel creativity and play• Spotlight pop culture• Help millennials succeed and help them discover

“Millennials are a powerful generation, in terms of both their spend and their influence on the world,” Weinberg explains. “With content marketing, creativity, and great story-telling, marketers can harness that power to create invaluable brand ambassadors.”

Source: Adroit Digital

WHEN IT COMES TO BRANDLOYALTY, MILLENNIALS FEEL...

40% THE SAME LEVEL AS THEIR PARENTS

31% LESS THAN THEIR PARENTS

24% MORE THAN THEIR PARENTS

GENERATIONMAKE PEACE WITH MILLENNIALS BY GIVING THEM A VOICE.

TALKIN''BOUT MY

MILLENNIALS WHO TRY A NEW BRAND BASED ON:

43%MILLENNIALS

WHO USE MANY OF THE

SAME BRANDS THAT THEIR

PARENTS USE

78%MILLENNIALS WHOSAY BRANDS HAVE TO WORK HARDER

TO EARN THEIR LOYALTY THAN

THEY HAD TO FOR THEIR PARENTS’

73%MILLENIALS WHO SAY

THAT THEY MAKE SMARTER BRAND

CHOICES THAN THEIR PARENTS DUE TO THEIR ACCESS, FAMILIARITY,

AND KNOWLEDGE OF DIGITAL

45%MILLENNIALS WHO SAY DIGITAL ADS COMBINED WITH

TRADITIONAL ADS ARE EQUALLY OR

MORE EFFECTIVE IN IMPACTING THEIR BRAND DECISIONS

THAN EITHER ALONE

77%MILLENNIALS WHO

CLAIM THAT THEY CHOOSE

BRANDS BASED ON DIFFERENT CRITERIA THAN THEIR PARENTS

MEDIUMS THAT INFLUENCE HOW MILLENNIALS

PERCEIVE/VALUE A BRAND:

70% TV 60%

SOCIAL

MEDIUMS MOST LIKELY TO INTRODUCE MILLENNIALS TO NEW BRANDS TO TRY:

29% TV 26%

SOCIAL

Source: Adroit Digital

62%

55%

47%

35%

VALUE/PRICE

RECOMMENDATIONS BY FRIENDS

BRAND REPUTATION

QUALITY

TWEETS

@C418Don’t follow everyone that

follows you on twitter. It neither makes sense for your marketing, nor does it help you socially.

@BrettRelander Treat @SocialMedia like a networking

event and start conversa-tions, answer questions, pose solutions.

@FaZeCBass The Share a Coke campaign is some

of the best social media marketing i’ve seen in a long time

@jowyang Things people don’t say: “I want more

advertising!” --despite it being a top line item of spend in marketing.

@mattSOS @GiuseppeJoe32 Nike is a market-

ing company that makes shoes

@damiengwalter So the question is, what’s the next social

network for people who actually want to be social, not just con-sume brand marketing?

@chiefsanjay Sometimes I think Social Media Mar-

keting is hugely hyped by its so called specialists. I know i’ll get whipped for this but truth isn’t it?

@KevinGaver “33% of millennials say most of their so-

cial media use is spent look-ing at images of themselves” THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS

@JeremyScrivens The term #marketing seems to me to be out of

sync now with our #social age; this is how I feel. Can anyone think of an alternative?

@Lonesteban Even if a marketing channel makes your

job easier (moves more units), if it’s oppressive don’t you have a responsibility to question it?