I read a postPost reviews at Social Media Optimization that made me think about what is it that a “valuable brand” means nowadays; and I look forward to hearing your opinion on this one.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, valuable means:

1 a: having monetary value b: worth a good price
2 a: having desirable or esteemed characteristics or qualities <valuable friendships> b: of great use or service <valuable advice>

In today’s ever-changing cultural landscape, I have to go with 2b. SM (social media) isn’t about cluttering every possible medium with your colors, your brands, your products; but rather an opportunity to create an environment of support and/or service, selecting specific channels to reach your audience. Therefore, I find it unnecessary to categorize brands by “most valuable” and/or “mavens, selectives, butterflies and wallflowers,” according to their SM activity (find the study here). The concept of a valuable brand is so subjective, making it impossible to determine whether any of those brands within the top-ten are more valuable than the Corner Store Down The Road is to its community. A few days ago, the NYtimes published an article on the results one of the many social networks has had on its users, and to save you the time to read it; it pretty much draws a picture in which all brands can be as valuable to their specific niche.

As an industry, we need to stop making such specific categorization causing marketers to believe that being “mavens” is the only way to succeed in SM; when it is not true. These sorts of categorizations tell us that one can’t be “selective” and expect the same results, when the idea of SM is exactly that: to be selective. To find your niche and create an environment of support that -if done right- will bring your brand the monetary value you’re looking for: ROI. Just because a valuable brand within the top-ten has thousands and thousands of followers and friends, doesn’t mean that it is more valuable than the Corner Shop in a community of twenty thousand people and four thousand followers and friends (20%).

This is a new way of communicating, people, and there is no room for such specific categories and lists in a world in which we (as consumers) have the freedom to jump from niche to niche as we please.

You can be anything you want; maven, selective, butterfly or wallflower, so comparing yourself to such specific brands is no longer an option to measure your success. You are unique, so your value is the one given by your specific community; while we -as an industry- need to start thinking smaller and smaller… on terms of execution.

Aroldo Nery

Social Media Brand Director @ The Re Agency

The numbers aren’t surprising.

According to the most recent Forrester Study it’s been forecast that the investment total in Interactive Marketing will increase to 55 billion dollars by 2014, of which 3.1 billion will be destined for Social Media. This means a 21% of the total investment will be dedicated to SEO and SEM, Email Marketing, Social Media, and mobile phones, meanwhile marketers will reduce their traditional marketing budgets significantly, “overall advertising budgets will decline”. As far as social media is concerned, we can see that the growing rate will increase by 34%, faster than any other form of online marketing.

As stated by Forrester, this change in marketing philosophy will bring momentous changes to the industry. On one side we’ll see considerable cuts in publicity budgets in general and the death of obsolete agencies, who are already beginning to suffer significantly in this investment downturn. On the other hand we’ll see the rise of more precise mediation tools in comparison to those used in traditional media, ultimately putting Marketing budgets to better use.

Basically, we’re seeing the transformation of our industries happen before our eyes at an alarming rate and it’s a transformation we should all prepare for, in due time.

Which it’s safe to say, would be right… now.

Sheila

Social media Communications Specialist @ The Re Agency

It feels like just yesterday we where watching our kids Facebooking to their teenage friends about TwilightTwilight reviews, or observing in horror as our college students posted rambunctious pictures of long inebriated nights.

And although there’s still a staggering amount of this tween and young adult activity that fueled the start of facebook, a new trend is rising.

Suddenly of seemingly no where, the 55+ group has got a fever for facebookFacebook..

That’s right Facebook is more than just a teenagers clique site and there’s proof.

This data may come to a surprise to some, but it seems more like common sense to the experts @The RE Agency. Regardless the information is extremely useful for anyone trying to tap into social media. An analytics’ company named iStrategylabs has recently released the demographics stats from Facebooks’ Social Ads platform and what they’re showing us is a rising trend in the ages accessing the popular social network site.

As seen in the chart below, the growth percentage for ages 35-54  has grown 109% while 18-24 grew only 4.8% between January and July 4th.  And which age group showed the most increasing interest in Facebook?  Not tweens or even Facebooks’ jump off point: high school and college students, but rather their their older counterparts. The 55+ group grew a staggering 513.7%, from 954.680 to 5.8 million in 6 short months.

Facebook Demographics Statistics 2009

It’s especially important to note that the largest percentage of users are in the  35-54 demo which leads me to believe that if iStrategyLabs results are accurate Facebook might have just graduated… with an MBA.

Congratulations Facebook!

Seriously though, what these results really go to show us is the immense capability Facebook has a communication tool that appeals to an extremely varied demographic. Young or Old it’s a great resource for research, promotion, and general branding with any age group.

It’s the power of 200,000,000 + users…

Are you there yet?

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @ The RE Agency

To those of us well versed in social media, it doesn’t take much to see how small changes can lead to big innovation.

The success stories are lined up everywhere we look.

All the while the Top Exec’s watch idly by, not really grasping the scope of what’s going on,  simply because there are  “far more important things to do than worry about some website.”

I sympathize with this majority of “too busy to care exec’s”, I really do.

It leaves all the profit for the type of entrepreneur that see’s beyond “Grandpop’s Marketing” and manages to turn a $4 million business, into a $45 million business by creating an online Video Diary called WinelibraryTV and introducing the company into various social networks.

I’m speaking about Gary Vaynerchuk Director of Operations from Winelibrary. Gary realized early on that not only paying close attention to social media, but becoming a sort of web-star in the presence of the new media uprising could prove to be quite fruitful. His ingenious strategy of starting an online program that see’s beyond the stereotypical “industry–conceited sommeliers, snobby shopkeepers unwilling (or unable) to educate their consumers” and all other “mystical conventions all combine to make wine seem intimidating to the uninitiated” opened his market up to unimaginable proportions. Using video as a medium and social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, Gary started a viral phenomenon.

The show now boasts about 100,000 views a day and propelled his business into one of the top Wine Sellers in the world. More importantly thousands of loyal shoppers are all part of an enourmous online community built by WineLibrary.  Along with various spots all over mainstream media which you can see here at the bottom of the page.

How’s that for PR?

I found out about Winelibrary amidst trying to decide the appropriate wine to take to a formal dinner. Seeing as the only schooling I’ve had in wine involves free trials at Whole Foods, I had to do some research. Gary’s choice of branding as “WineLibrary” exudes the personality of a company whose well-versed compendium of wine knowledge is comparable to that of an actual library. By optimizing his search and having several friends lead me to the twitter account @garyvee he made it possible to for me to stumble upon his site almost too quickly.

There lay the masterpiece of his social media collection, 700 videos to date all informing, entertaining, and drawing me into a world of wine expertise. About 2 hours later, I pulled myself out knowing the value of each and every different grape and process.

WineLibrary gave me exactly what I was looking for when I was looking for it. Earning a follower, and a brand new connoisseur of fine wines.

Interactive visuals are undoubtedly an excellent source to get your brand across the vast universe of social networking. They provide a human face to a brand and bring the consumer that much closer to becoming enthralled with who your company is and what you can offer him. It’s a known fact that today’s consumer suffers an audio visual assault to his senses everywhere he turns, advertisements yelling ” SHOP HERE“, “BUY NOW“, “SALE SALE SALE“, enough to make any consumer to crawl into a cave and hibernate his wallet.

Seriously.

See, we’ve been going about it the wrong way, instead of interrupting and thereby irritating your prospective clientele. Why not inform him, and make things available when he needs them and he wants them.

This is the thesis of social media, the ease of getting exactly your requesting from the company you should be getting it from. It’s all about the solutions to the conundrums consumers have, and the creative ways you pose those solutions. Guaranteeing a consumer-company bond unbreakable by your competitors.

So, don’t force your consumers into hibernation with the droning tone of one way communication, but rather awaken their senses once again with social media’s alluring ways instead.

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @ The RE Agency