Chapter 7
The New Media University 401
Dashboards, Social Networks, and Brands
I know: There's a lot to process here—not to mention that we are only beginning to discuss the evolution of media overall. Take solace in your state of understanding and in your surroundings. You are not alone. We are all in this together.
Learn with determination.
Breathe it in.
Discover.
Dream.
Imagine.
Lead.
Listen and engage in discussions with empathy and under-standing.
Moving forward, we'll review social media dashboards, social networks, virtual goods, and branded, or purpose-driven, social networks.
SOCIAL MEDIA DASHBOARDS
The book will repeat this message throughout: We must produce and promote compelling material in the communities where our customers, peers, influencers, and prospects are active—using the consumption methods and means that they prefer.
Social media dashboards serve as a solution for arranging content from disparate networks into one cooperative digital menu.
Consumers may view one form of media, for example, a video on YouTube, but they may not necessarily be aware that the company offers additional insight through other forms of content beyond the YouTube video and profile. Sending viewers back to a company website is only going to hinder our goal of creating a bridge for interaction. For those curious visitors seeking a social directory in our domain, how do we steer them to our external social presences?
Chances are, a directory either doesn't exist or profiles are littered throughout the site and the Web.
A social dashboard is a dedicated microsite either within an existing corporate website or hosted at a dedicated URL that aggregates the disparate corporate social profiles and media—presenting them in one visually rich, easy-to-navigate destination that promotes outside connectivity and onsite interaction.
Dashboards can include video from YouTube, pictures from Flickr, blog posts, tweets, or other forms of updates from the Statusphere, social network activity, Facebook brand pages, a forum, events, and a directory to other social profiles. Each component of the dashboard can also provide individual RSS feeds or an all-inclusive feed (in online processor markup language, or OPML) for interested visitors who prefer to follow the updated content in their respective RSS readers.
In one such example, Chevy released VoltAge (see www .chevroletvoltage.com), a destination website to host and spark activity through a visually rich aggregated experience.
VoltAge offered unique content for visitors in the form of behind-the-scenes and custom videos and exclusive pictures of the Volt through channeled pictures (see Figure 7.1).
Figure 7.1 Chevrolet Volt
Figure 7.2 Anheuser-Busch Extras
Chevy also integrated other forms of compartmentalized conversational content, such as a hosted forum for topical dialogues, blog posts, tweets from Twitter, news releases, polls with real-time results, upcoming events, and also Facebook Connect.
I worked with Anheuser-Busch to create a social dashboard to tell the story behind the company's Super Bowl commercials that year. The Dashboard went live before the big game and featured behind the scenes footage from the shoots, interviews with the director, discussions with the trainer of the famous Clydesdale horses, as well as pictures and other media. This content was less about promoting the company's new commercials and more about humanizing the intent and storyline behind the spots and the real people who brought it all together (see Figure 7.2).
Services such as Facebook Connect and Twitter Login provide a secure way to easily integrate into your hosted network, so that visitors can access or contribute content without needing to create yet another profile or login account. Do not make users create new login credentials. By integrating (easily) the ability for people to login using their Facebook and Twitter IDs, the likelihood of participation is increased. It also aggregates the extracurricular activity back into Facebook, for example. The subsequent action of, for example, commenting on a video or blog post, will send that comment back to Facebook in their newsfeed and the feeds of their friends. If their friends see it, and if it's intriguing, it's likely that they may also click-through to see what engaged their attention.
It is a very simple and effective way of unmarketing content from your domain to the extended social graphs of those who appreciate the content you publish.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn offer a variety of mechanisms to discover and connect with influencers and peers. Social networks also offer myriad other forms of collaboration and promotion. Opportunities range from comments and wall posts to groups and fan pages to events to customized applications, widgets, and games, and to virtual goods.
Community and brand managers can also create groups and or brand pages if they don't yet exist, so they can host dialogues with and solicit feedback from stakeholders. This group engagement also provides opportunities that pave the way for interaction, direction, or support.
In Facebook, for example, each group, event, application, or brand page can be promoted by organic means and also through email and in-network mail. It also provides a simple method for running a small visual ad tied to your chosen keywords, however, with which you can promote the page on a cost per 1,000 (CPM) or a cost per click (CPC) basis. CPM is used when trying to reach the broadest range of impressions possible. CPC is used when the goal of the program is to get people to click through (measured in a click-through rate, or CTR), and, in this case, join a group or page.
Many companies rush to create group or brand pages dedicated to their corporate and product brands without first considering the rationale for doing so or checking if one may already exist (usually started by a fan or an angry customer).
In some cases in which a popular group is already thriving, it may make more sense to align the brand with the group and take an active role in its direction. For example, on Facebook alone, there are thousands of groups and brand pages dedicated to Coke and Coca-Cola, with the most popular fan page hosting millions of fans. While Facebook rules state that fan pages can be created only by the company or authorized representatives, this page was started by Dusty Sorg and Michael Jedrzejewski in Los Angeles before the new rule took effect. When Coca-Cola was contemplating its Facebook fan page strategy, it realized that its greatest networking opportunity was to empower the duo to continue to run the page along with collaboration from the Coke team.
That's the trick of all of this. It's the art of garnering attention and then capturing and holding it now and henceforward. Everything requires promotion through the consistent and vigorous acts of connecting profiles and pages to those who will enjoy them. And once engaged, it's our job to keep them engaged.
Participation is key to growing the community and ensuring its integrity and associated activity.
BRANDED AND PURPOSE-DRIVEN SOCIAL NETWORKS
Indeed, the most popular social networks in the world offer the ability to create, host, and participate in subnetworks, or groups dedicated to your brand and products. They are not the only networks to establish a presence, however. In the spirit of reaching out to significant groups of people where they interact, there are several services that exist to facilitate the creation, promotion, and cultivation of stand-alone networks that are either hosted independently from your main Web presence or are also embeddable within your primary site.
These communities function similarly to other groups and networks, but differ in where they're hosted, how they appear, and their intended form and function. Simply said, brands can maintain multiple presences dedicated to fostering specific conversations spanning from sales and service to education to internal collaboration and dialogue related to specific products, lifestyles, and events—or simply a place that encourages consumers to share insights, ask questions, and contribute ideas on company and product direction.
Many brands seed to build loyalty-building networks in addition to existing social networks. And while I don't promote any brand spreading itself thin by dedicating resources to establishing presences in each and every network, it is typical to establish presences in multiple networks where customers are already active.
Communities such as Ning provide do-it-yourself (DIY) tools to build a very professional, customized social network dedicated to any theme or topic you choose. Ning is also a social network for social networks, in that it already boasts over one million niche groups and a significant user population that supports them. Ning gathers users together around common interests and therefore is an ideal location in which to establish a strategic presence and promote it inside and outside the rapidly growing network.
Other brands choose to socialize their main online presence, usually the corporate website, by adding social networking functionality on a particular page of the site. Some brands prefer the ability to aggregate worldwide Web traffic to a place where it can guide user click paths and ultimately capture leads or sales in one place. Leverage Software, Jive, Cisco, and Kickapps, among others, provide dedicated resources, services, and systems for creating and hosting inward- and outward-facing social networks. It's for this reason that Facebook has made its fan pages portable, allowing brands to embed a widget version of the brand page directly into websites. Doing so builds a bridge between the strong Facebook network and outside visitors to concentrate on promotion and community building.
Visitors to outside branded pages can securely log in with their Facebook credentials to interact with the widget to comment, like, and view the latest pictures, videos, posts, and so on. As fans participate, their activity is simultaneously shared within the Facebook community, further promoting the branded content within the personal news feed for Facebook friends and contacts to potentially view and click through.
Brands currently using the embedded Facebook fan page include BlackBerry, NPR, World Wildlife Fund, Newsweek, Roger Federer, and ABC News.
Remember, just because you build it, doesn't mean they will come. You have to start by recruiting. Go find your customers and bring them to you or engage them where they are right now.
BRANDED SOCIAL NETWORK EXAMPLES: PANASONIC LIVING IN HD
In conjunction with Crayon, a new media agency, Panasonic developed a dedicated social network surrounding its high-definition products and technology (www.livinginhd.com). Dubbed an HD playground, Living in HD (LiHD) encourages Panasonic HD customers, technology fans, and anyone else to share their insights, experience, creativity, and enthusiasm about the world of HD. To create buzz and incentives for joining, Panasonic offers valuable prizes, including a contest that gave away 30 HD products in 30 days to members.
Panasonic actively engages the LiHD community. For example, Greg Harper, the Panasonic Answer Man, offers community videos in response to questions from community members, on topics such as what to look for before making an HD purchase. LiHD also leverages the experience and wisdom of its community, as members frequently post and discuss tips and advice on various HD products. And recognizing that the fan base for HD products, particularly cameras and camcorders, is likely to be creative and expressive types, Panasonic offers community blogs within which members can express themselves through words, photos, and videos. They're creating a creative and collaborative atmosphere—all wrapped around the Panasonic HD brand (see Figure 7.3).
Figure 7.3 Panasonic Living in HD
