The Groupon South Africa Facebook competition

If you don’t know about it, here it is. My boss told me about Groupon running a competition on Facebook where once they reached 50 000 likes they would sell 30 Xboxes for R22. Sounds amazing. Basically the deal went live last night and the experience was horrible as servers displayed wrong pages and then redirected people to other pages. 32 people were alleged to have bought the Xboxes. Well done to them.

For Groupon they made a massive jump in the likes and engagement judging by the comments building up to 50 000. There was some expected negativity from the masses who were too slow. But what can Groupon look forward to?

Well there will be the expectation that they have this deal again and very soon. People have liked the page and they expect to be rewarded. And that is the problem with using a competition to directly increase likes and engagement – you create an expectation.

The real goal is to increase that organically by creating opportunities for participation that will be spread naturally. Easier said than done obviously.  The basics still hold true, the flash is temporary and you want to get to a stage where the brand can survive an onslaught.

Woolworths seems to have picked itself up, dusted itself off after the Frankies dispute. The dispute still continues with Frankies having their own Facebook page and as bad as everyone felt at the time, the reality is that the Woolworths brand is still strong in our minds and the alleged moral infringement by Woolworths on the small soft drinks manufacturer does no weigh heavier than our needs.

Future for Groupon: After the Xboxes were sold out a number of people unliked the page. This morning the numbers are up again. Overall I believe they came out on top. They increase their market value and it cost them 30 Xboxes. Those clients of Groupon will be shown some out of this world figures justifying the cost of group buying and discounts. Frankly there is very little I can actually buy because I don’t know how many hot rock massages, photo shoots and pedicures I can possibly go to every month. But it works for some people.

I think it was clever of the Groupon folks. They managed to increase acquisition and engagement and they were able to increase subscribers allowing them to increase the value of their commercial offering. Very clever indeed. Well done Groupon. That’s not say that it will work for everyone. But it is a good indication of the sort of mentality required in the social media space to make people sit back and take notice.

 

HHP

Death of check-in?

It was cool while it lasted. It made the marketing world go a little mad but have you noticed that no one gives a crap if you’re the mayor or the king? Most people I know stopped checking into places because it was a tedious exercise. Gave away too much information.

Facebook, FourSquare whatever, it all became too much to keep up with. Because your check-ins could be linked to your Facebook and Twitter accounts so newsfeeds became filled with Hamish has just checked into your girlfriend, Hamish is the king of your mom. OK I exaggerate a bit but you get the picture. Sharing gave no value which goes back to one of the foundational values – how does your SM contribution offer value to me a consumer?

I made a recommendation several months ago for my company not to fork out a staggering amount of money. It was dicey at the beginning but the results proved my recommendation. Check-ins began dying in the US and UK around the end of 2010 and carried on in 2011. Why?

Firstly greedy management thought that ordinary customers would give them free advertising for no go reason. There was no incentivise. A cup of coffee is cute but after someone’s already done that then it becomes a case of pushing up the ante.

Deals: I wish more retail marketing folks in the world understand this. A deal needs to be seen from the consumer’s perspective no how much your brand can lift before someone catches on. Telling people that check-in will receive super deals should mean just that.  If you’re just expecting folks to check in so that all their friends know where your shop is without any return for them, guess what? People get tired and leave.

Facebook or FourSquare

I preferred Foursquare. But that’s like arguing over Pepsi and Coke. Everyone has their preference and it is all about marketing at the end of the day. It all went wrong when owners of check-ins forgot the social aspect of social media. As in, that it required some sort of engagement in order for it to work, in order for word of mouth to act as a marketing mechanism. Instead people got bored and check-in died faster than a third world dictator in a French hospital.

What are your thoughts?

If you were still wondering if you needed social media in your business.

There are still some places out there where social media is seen as an optional extra. Most brands want to give the impression that they are world class. If people dispute that, then consider why folks have websites. Because you want to increase your reach. But having a website with updates on an ad hoc basis and hoping that you are found is the kind of thinking that is often made fun of in polite society.

If you’re still contemplating whether or not you need a social media presence, consider this: Do you want to stop making money? Do you want to reach a point and say “this is enough, I’m going to stop right here.” Of course not. Because that is retarded and stupid.

Point of the matter is that we now live in world that we can call the “Global Village” people make calls to people in different timezones. People fall in love with people online before they meet. Connectivity is drawing us closer together and your products and services are now available to the world. Are you still thinking about Social Media?

If you are the person that gets paid the big cheese to make the big decisions then you should be seeing the big picture. The majority of people on this continent access the internet from their mobile phones. Most popular activity = Social Networking. Your website does not feature because the whole mechanism is incomplete. No one pays attention to printed brochures and flyers. In fact, it makes us wonder how many trees had to die for you to congest our mailboxes. Electronic is the way and if you don’t establish a foundation now where will you be when  connectivity is as common as Justin Bieber hairdos at a 6 year old’s birthday party?

Social media is not a selling medium and for heaven’s sake please do not think of it as free because free is what results in a disaster. Understanding of the arena as well as the skill required to maneuver the hybrid function of Social Media is needed most of all. The benefits are that you establish a pattern and a plan for your brand in the social media area. A plan is important when you build a community that comes to rely on you for information. Sure you’ve tried mailing lists with weekly newsletters and most of the time people end up deleting it, social media becomes about creating valuable content and that content being worthy of sharing.

I can’t convince someone who still asks if we have social media. I don’t think I am being arrogant because as far as I am concerned, if you are still asking those questions then you don’t see the picture and I shouldn’t be talking to you anyway. People are being connected by the millions everyday and soon there will be parity between the PC user experience and the mobile user experience. Smart devices are becoming cheaper. The point is that when everyone can do everything from their handset, why on earth would they trust in a business without the foresight to invest in social media?

HHP

Because it is free

That's how you feel

 

Ever tried explaining why you can’t publish anything and everything to Facebook? From a brand perspective there is this perception that because we don’t have to spend money on Social Media, that your Facebook platforms and even Twitter becomes a dumping ground for projects with high ambitions (READ: desperate) but no budget for Facebook. I have several problems with this.

Facebook is not your go-to when you don’t have budget. Especially when you think that by virtue of updating you have created a desire in your consumer to obtain your product or service. Same business rules apply – if its shit, people generally don’t part with money.

Secondly, there is this insistence by certain sections, demanding that this be put onto Facebook. Many times they will make the very valid argument that Facebook is an important aspect of their campaign to reach the masses. Which is why I say: if it was that important, you would have allocated budget. You didn’t.

The perception: Facebook is this magical and enchanted place where people can sell stuff just by updating their wall. Because inexplicably people come online, log into their Facebook accounts and lose their minds as the desire to spend money takes hold.

The reality: people on social media don’t want to spend money online unless there is an obvious and direct benefit. They’re continuously being bombarded with information, why should they pay attention to your deal, what is so special about it?

What most product managers and brand managers fail to understand is that the social media experience needs to stand out from the usual in-store experience. Folks go in store to purchase and conclude deals. Online they want to be enriched (for want of a better description), they want to have an experience that is unique. Posting KAK on your facebook wall because it is there and it is “free” is not a unique experience.

I think Social Media is maturing in South Africa. Brands are beginning to realise that replicating ABL on social media is like taking your sister to your Matric Farewell.

Not everything has Social media currency. In other words you cannot buy engagement, shareability or even acquisition with some of the information is published.

HHP

 

 

Pitfalls of social media

"So I said, I will poke you."

Not to sound alarmist but social media can do more harm to your brand than good. The dangers of social media don’t only come from leaving your brand open to public comment, but internally the manner in which it is managed.

Internal management

Is social media part of PR, is it part of Marketing? Should it be expressed as a sales function? Should we have an internal team? Should we hire an agency? Who has the overall control over social media.

The first thing to understand is that social media is not cheap PR or cheap marketing. Social media is about building communities where the messaging revolves around what is valuable to the community.  The questions to ask yourself before you post:

1. How does this offer value to our community?
2. Will our community share this information  with their online social communities?

For example: Blackberry RIM collapse Vodacom was first among the South African Telcos to send out SMS messages to Blackberry users. Voice and SMS functionality worked but data services were non-operational. Facebook updates continued in conjunction with the update SMS messages.

What the above example shows is an integrated approach to communicating valuable and sharable information.

The biggest battle to overcome internally is: what does Social Media represent from a business perspective. The answer is simply – everything.  Refer to the questions above: Will be offer value? Will be give the community reason to share? Social media is a hybrid and cannot be boxed into a neatly defining label. Businesses need to understand this.

Internal Team vs External Agency

The trend coming in from the US and Europe is to build and internal team. The team is usually multi-disciplinary covering different aspects of managing social media – PR, Marketing, Commercialisation, Customer Care and with some form of risk and legal representation. The arrival of the Consumer Protection Act has necessitated this.

From a South African context I would recommend using an agency to represent the brand – at least in the interim until the business is able to understand the need and application of social media.  Often in the eagerness to prove the worth and value of social media you will find numerous internal business units claiming a piece of the social media. The agency acts as a buffer until the organisation understand its internal processes well enough and its community to define the tone and style of messaging.

Why the agency works well in a South African context: Often folks would point to examples used in the US and Europe, a good South African Social Media agency is able to push back with evidence of what works in the South African context for your brand.

 

The hospital gown philosophy – external pitfalls

Time and again, brands are under the impression that they control the sentiment in online social communities. The reality is that when a brand decides to embark on the social media journey, they’re making themselves vulnerable. Every negative experience of the community can be amplified. The manner in which customer queries, complaints or comments are dealt with will determine how the brand is received and perceived.

Starting up on social media is like walking around in a hospital gown, your backside is on display, better make sure you have clean underwear.

 

HHP

 

 

To iPad or not to iPad

When hot chick said she didn’t care about the iPad, it was like one of the scenes in the movie where the kid says he hates the dog and doesn’t care. Off course hot chick wasn’t crying. But it is hard not to care when you actually get your hands on one of these tablet computers. S welcome to the first blog from my iPad.

Hot Chick is now known as Hot iChick with her new iPad.

HHP

The pitfalls of social media

 

Business entities and brands need to tread carefully before stepping out into the social media space. Telkom are apparently weighing up the options before they take the leap. It’s like that reality show with the fat guy who always wanted to go bungee jumping but is scared of heights. Buddy, Planet Earth doesn’t want you to fall anymore than you do.

Anway, I see many businesses take the leap and replicate their ABL activities online and in social media. This is known as the sucking ass strategy and is usually the result of complete cluelessness and misunderstanding of social media.

The reality is that Social Media is not what you expect it to be. The masses/proletariat are realising their strength in numbers, the power of their voice to condemn your brand and say it without using a single vowel. Yes they can.

Spontaneity

Like a wombat on speed. That is what it boils down to. In Social Media, you have to be constantly planning. Sure there are events that break out that require spur of the moment reaction, but as a rule, plan, plan, plan. Competitions and promotions can come back to bite you in the arse. Always have a set of terms and conditions and be anal about referring people to them. Your attempt to promote your brand can come back to bite you because some person doesn’t win. Sure you are bigger but no one likes a bully and as such you have to sometimes go through the whole process and apologise when it is not your fault.

Be proactive.

Often there will be events around your brand which require social media to be at the forefront of dealing irate customers. Don’t wait for customers to come to you, be aware of what is going and communicate on all platforms available. When Blackberry went down, Vodacom was the first network to start texting their clients to let them know about the RIM collapse and developments.

Having a thick skin

You can’t be exposed to negativity day in and day out and not end up like Voldemort. Two weeks of an annoying person and I wanted to commit murder. In fact I believe my words were “I hope he develops mouth cancer the fucking annoying swine” The reality is that all he wanted to do was attack the brand and not find a resolution to his “dispute” You can handle stuff that you can fix, you cannot fix someone who just hates your brand. Sometimes, you have to just say good bye.

Putting a brand in the social media sphere is to leave it vulnerable. If your brand is strong and your do what it is you claim you’re doing, your brand’s activity on social media will create a stronger brand ABL. Weak brands hesitate and over confident brands try to pour money into something and fail dismally. But as such you are putting yourself out there to grow.

 

Our memories that won’t let go of us

22 years ago, it was a week much like this week. Except I was 10 going on 11 and I was in East London. To be honest I have never been a fan of October. Shit usually hits the fan during this month and for 31 days I am generally in a worse mood.

The superheroes got it right. Death for kids affects them in ways that you cannot imagine. It turned me into a complete control freak. When my father died, it was a just one of those things that would forever alter whatever plans we had in store. And in way I have never really grown up from that day. This week has been monstrous. Not that have been thinking about it, but then I noticed the weather.

It started raining the Wednesday of that week. The wind blew. By that Friday it rained to match my mood. I have lived through many things. Most of them I have shoved to the dark corners of my mind or thrown out altogether.

Of course as one of them children, your perspective on life is slightly jaded from a young age. Because you know the drill. I was 12 and could tell you about dying intestate. People treat you differently. You are different. You feel like the unluckiest person in the world. How many scenarios in my life started with “what if???”

I would like to believe I could let go of those memories and move on, a large part of me wish I could. But I am scared of letting go. What if I forget? What if all that is left is all this displaced emotion. No one tells you how to manage your life in that situation. It’s all so unexpected. That’s what they said. Unexpected. What else was there to say. Everyone slack jawed with shock. He was so young. Those kids are so young. His wife is so young. He is dead though. What a shame. You have to be the man, You have to protect your family, you have to. I was fucking 10. What did I know. All of a sudden life becomes a game of life or death, no room for error, no room for mistakes, we can’t afford it.

And so I spend my time trying to make up for all that. To haphazardly fill in the gaps for all those people affected.  I still play what if scenarios. Sometimes relatives join in. “If your father was still around…” He would have been over 6ft and bald with the original big stomach which I so proudly wear. I can’t say that I knew my father. For fucks sake I was 10. How much can you know about anyone at that age even if you did live with them all of your life. He was no saint either. That is the hard thing to accept. Turning the dead into saints. Or even villains. I don’t know how my life would have turned out. I’ve given up on that particular sequence of theoretical events. I am where I am.

Happy 20^th of October.

 

 

 

Commercialising the social media space

Before you say typical – I work for an evil corporate, let me just rearrange the word order for you:

I am evil and I work for a corporate.

I believe that you can commercialise social media spaces without alienating your audience or diluting your brand. Late comers on the social media scene should be more supportive of these initiatives namely because it can speed up brand awareness in these spaces.

It goes without saying that most consumers when having a bad experience will look to the Internet to vent their frustrations. Hello Peter is not a strip club and many South Africans have spent hours there smashing keyboards in the hope of getting some resolution to their complaints. Social media changed all of that. It gave people a central place to seek resolution thereby giving brands the opportunity to control the conversation. Better inside the house than outside where everyone can see.

The early brands thus established themselves and although social media is about engagement in a community, to a large extent the brand controls the messaging and interaction in this space. The audience is free to receive messages or leave. That is where the balance comes in with the control of messaging.

It therefore stands to reason that as the gatekeepers to your audience and the messaging that they receive, other brands would like to access them.  Mostly brands looking to hang out with the cool or big kids on the playground so that they don’t get beaten up and robbed of lunch money (in a manner of speaking). New and small brands looking to amplify their brands on social media and online would do well to join forces with existing brands:

Keys to joining an established brand

-          Collaboration. Put yourself in the shoes of the big brand – what is in it for them?

-          Content is king – don’t just ask for a banner and throw products. How does this tie back to the Big Brand?

-          Be prepared to pay to get at the audience.  The Big Brand has worked it’s arse off to build trust with its audience, don’t think you’re just going to come in here and sell your wares.

-          It should contribute to enhancing the Big Brand’s value in social media.

Remember you might be established offline, but in the social media, we have seen the established brands take a hammering in Social Media circles.

Benefits to paying another brand to access their audience

-          Elevation from nobody to who’s that status

-          Cost effective – time and money saved by linking with a stronger social media brand than starting from scratch. 1000 followers is the new starting mark.

There are arguments against monetising (charging other brands to reach your audience). We will be exposed to advertising. I think reaching an audience should not be about adverts in the traditional sense but rather creating user journeys that resonate with audiences, in other words for the sucktards trying find this in their textbooks – be clever, give your audience an experience and charge brands to do it if they want to engage with your audience.

Gareth Cliff is alleged to charge about R35000 to tweet an Insurance brand. I asked journo how much he would charge tweet the rugby – 500 Euros. He is South African. People realise that the brand creates the community and therefore credibility you would receive.

Right now I am trying to work out the true value of a tweet or facebook update or a brand mention on a page. Because I might not charge another brand but I will know the limitations on the exposure they receive.

HHP

 

RIM job leaves nasty taste in mouth for Blackberry users

If you have a Blackberry you’re probably one of two people at the moment – someone completely enlightened and enjoying the break from being connected, or the person believes their lives have come to an end because they can’t send that BBM.

As annoying as it was I hardly missed my Blackberry. I slept soundly the last 2 nights and I think it has been a wake up call of sorts.

I have been following comments online and one thing I noticed is the frustration of BB owners because they felt so disconnected. Let me just remind folks that the text messages and voice still worked fine. It was the BIS – data service – which had failed. Niri Govender has a sick mom and couldn’t BBM her mom to find out how she was doing because BIS was down? Dear Niri before data applications like BBM people used phones for making voice calls and speaking, with their mouths instead of through emoticons.

We have become dependent on our phones and no, Blackberry will not be giving you back your R2 for every day missed. If you want I am sure you can ask for it back. It also didn’t help that half the BB population decided to send test message out via BBM. What this resulted in was data overload as the system tried to send them out when it came back online. Result: The Day 2 Collapse.

What Blackberry’s collapse has signalled to me:

That life was awesome without Broadcast Messages stating that forwarding a message would save my contacts or that some woman had been kidnapped and was in danger of losing battery power as she sent this message. Too many sucktards have access to BB and have become reliant on it to just increase their stupid express quotient (SEQ)

Sure it felt like 1999 all over again, sending text messages, but how much time did we waste complaining about a lack of BBM? Sure, Blackberry were not the brightest tools what with sending updates via Twitter and Facebook (If most people are accessing the net via their Blackberrys chances are that they wouldn’t see it), and they should have informed the networks sooner.

Blackberry gone rotten is not the end of the world. There is always Android. Thank you my HTC.

 

Hamish Pillay